


These Walls

by AvalonBay



Series: Avalon Series [3]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Angst, Anorexia, Cutting, Domestic Violence, Drama, Eating Disorders, F/M, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gen, Gore, Self-Harm, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 75
Words: 382,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvalonBay/pseuds/AvalonBay
Summary: [Sequel to Made of Glass]. Avalon Mitchell is happier than ever, now with her past is behind her and a bright future looming ahead. However the balance of her life seem to be crumbling down and the walls she had put up are coming down with them. It's one thing after the next; first a intergalactic being thought to be sealed away nearly destroys the world, then one of her best friends hides something so big from her and the rest of their friends that it nearly kills her, and more secrets are revealed with their powers and that there are even more monsters out there that want to destroy them other than Rita and Zedd. Balancing their lives against their ranger duties becomes even more difficult for the rangers; they're growing up. They're adults now; they should be able to handle what life throws their way. But when secrets are revealed and lies are exposed, the rangers come to realize that some things are more important.





	1. Higher Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This story is completed in it's entirety on FFN under the penname AvalonBay. I am crossposting the series here from there. I hope you continue to enjoy.

**Chapter 01**

_Higher Ground_

* * *

 

"I can't believe you all are going skydiving today!"

Mrs. Hart turned from the counter, nursing a steaming mug of coffee, and watched as her daughter practically skipped to the kitchen. Kimberly Hart dropped her bag onto the counter and pulled herself up onto the stool across from her mother. The pink ranger's eyes lit up as she reached out, grabbing a piece of toast from her mother's plate

"I know," she agreed. "It's so exciting! I didn't think we'd ever do something as cool as this." Her smile waned a little, slowly chewing the piece of toast. "I just wish it wasn't under such…sad circumstances, y'know? 'Cause Tommy had suggested it to Billy to make him feel better after this mother…"

Mrs. Hart nodded and the two fell silent.

It had been hard for the blue ranger in the past couple of months after his mother had been murdered by Rita Repulsa, Zedd, and Diabolico in their plan to destroy the rangers and take over the world. It had almost worked, too. They had invaded the school, captured the students and teachers, separated the rangers, and had sicked an evil clone of the green ranger against Tommy. While that was going on, they had murdered Billy's mother to cause psychological damage to him, enough to turn him evil. And it had worked for a while, but the rangers had managed to turn Billy back from evil and defeated the evil green ranger and the dragonzord. Billy and his father had dealt with it the best way anyone thought they could.

And while the past couple of months of the school year had made it hard for Billy in a few areas, he had managed to get past it and was more or less back to his normal self by the time summer rolled around. Now it was the start of their summer vacation and the rangers were excited to be doing something big to kick it off; the charity skydiving event to save the Angel Grove Observatory.

"But it should be really fun," Kimberly said, her face lighting up once more. Hardly anything could keep the energetic girl's happiness down. "I mean, how many people can say that they went skydiving, by themselves, after only a few months of practice?"

"Not many, I'm sure that most of them crashed to the ground," Mrs. Hart joked.

"Mom!"

"I'm only kidding, Kimmy. Relax." She watched as Kimberly took another bite of toast and dropped the piece of dried bread back onto her mother's plate. "Kim, you have to eat more than that if you're going to be jumping out of a plane."

"I'm meeting everyone at the Youth Center before we go," Kimberly explained. She slid off of the stool and rounded the island. Leaning into her mother, she gave her a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "No offense, but you have to lighten up."

Kimberly smiled as her mother rolled her eyes. She picked up her bag from the ground and slung it over her shoulder, before quickly walking out of the house. Once the door was closed behind her, she looked over her outfit for the day. A white crop-top and pink, high waisted, jean shorts that showed off a bit of her stomach.

Her flat, toned stomach.

Smiling to herself, the pink ranger placed her hand along her abs before skipping down the front steps of the porch and approached her car. All of the hard work she had done over the summer had paid off. Waking up early to go to gymnastics practices, working hard at the youth center to get some weight lifting and cardio in, and that's not including the workouts she got while working as a ranger. She felt stronger and was doing better to keep up with the other rangers in battle, even having been a great helping hand in defeating more of them as of late. Her diet was only limited when she needed it; when she felt bloated, when she didn't get to exercise as much as she had wanted in the day, when she simply didn't feel hungry.

But as the butterflies erupted in her stomach this morning, it was due to her excitement for jumping out of a plane and doing well enough to help save the observatory. As well as that, Hailey's comet was coming around in a few days and she was excited for the city-wide picnic that was going to be held that night, where, after the food was eaten, the residents of Angel Grove were to spend the night watching the sky for the space object.

It was the most romantic night of the year, and she planned on spending it with her boyfriend whom she dearly loved.

Checking her watch, the pink ranger quickly turned on her car and peeled out of the driveway, heading out to the Youth Center, where she was going to meet her friends. Once arriving, she hurried inside and found her friends sitting around a table, closest to the door. Kimberly smiled as she looked over her friends.

Tommy Oliver, her boyfriend and love of her life was sitting at the head of the table. He was laughing at something that Rocky DeSantos, the red ranger was saying to him and Kimberly felt her stomach explode with even more butterflies when she spotted him. He was the perfect guy for her; strong, loyal, great sense of justice, great fighter, and if it wasn't for the fact that he had some memory problems with caused for some of their few arguments when he forgot to pick her up for a date he would be absolutely perfect.

Rocky DeSantos was someone she had started to become close to. He made her laugh like no one's business and he did nothing but look at life with anything short of excitement. She had been a bit weary of him, after he had taken Jason Scott's place as being the red ranger—with Adam Park and Aisha Campbell taking the places of Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan—but his excitable personality was infectious and she loved having him around. Adam was quieter than the rest of the rangers, but that was a great change of pace, especially considering how he always had something sensible and helpful to say when he did speak up. His strong and silent demeanor was outmatched by his natural skill in martial arts and as time went on and he continued to teach classes along with Rocky over the summer, he started to come out of his shell. It probably helped that Aisha did his best to motivate him to step out of his shell a little bit. She was a bright ball of energy, her sunny disposition easily matching the color of her spandex and her sassiness had caused Kimberly to quickly become friends with her.

Looking over at the other side of the table, Kimberly took in Billy Cranston, Avalon Mitchell, Bailey Mitchell, and Fred Kelman. The blue, orange, and purple rangers respectfully as well as a new friend of theirs. Billy, she had known forever and she was glad that he was finally back to his normal self. Not that she didn't understand his grief, but he always dealt with his emotions in ways that were different than most people did; with logical and reason and that had scared her. The dark, empty look in his eyes the first few months after his mother's death was gone and replaced with that quiet excitement he always carried. Avalon, on the other hand, was standoffish and really rude to the rangers, keeping her secrets and her past as close to her as possible. But as she had finally gotten out of the gang, The Vipers, and her life continued to move upwards from there. The orange ranger was now one of Kimberly's best friends, her opposite personality to hers meshing together. Bailey, despite being Avalon's little sister, was like a little sister to all of the rangers and just as smart as Billy. She worked hard at her martial arts training with Tommy and she had managed to help the rangers get through some of the most difficult problems; her innocent view and excitement towards the world always left her thinking there was so much more out there than originally thought. And as the case was, she and Avalon were months away from being adopted by the Olivers, making the close relationship between the purple and white rangers much more official.

And Fred was a new friend of theirs, one of the few friends they had that _wasn't_ a ranger. Not only did he look up to Tommy and practiced in martial arts as well, but it was actually really cute the way he was 'dating' Bailey. As much dating as the two of them could do at thirteen years old when they were too shy to really do anything. But she saw him a bit as a brother now, too, considering how much he was around now.

"Hey guys," She greeted them, hurrying over. She dropped her bag to the ground and gave Tommy a kiss, despite the noises of protest she received from Rocky and Avalon. "Aren't you guys so excited?"

"To be watching you all hurl to your deaths at hundreds of miles per hour?" Avalon asked. She laced her fingers together, resting her hands on the table. "Yes, I'm actually really looking forward to that."

Aisha laughed. "You know you could come with us?"

"No, thanks, mate. I told you before that my feet like to stay firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much." The orange ranger grinned as the group of friends burst out laughing. Raising her hands, she tucked her long hair behind her ears and Kimberly smiled when she noticed the new thunderbolt tattoo that was on the inside of her left wrist. "But don't come crying to me when you can't get out of the plane."

"Once again, Ava, your vote of confidence is really uplifting," Billy teased her, gently nudging her shoulder with his own.

"I try."

Aisha reached out and swatted her on the arm. "Her vote aside, this is going to be the best experience ever! I've always wanted to do this and I'm glad that I finally have an excuse to." She paused and brought her hands up to cover her mouth, suddenly looking stricken. She exchanged a glance with Rocky and Adam, who appeared just as unnerved as she did.

Noticing the look, Billy chuckled, gently shaking his head. "Guys, I'm fine," he insisted. "It's been months…it'll take a while to get over it completely, but…I'm fine. My Dad's fine too…things are harder for him, but that's to be expected." He bobbed his head back and forth. "Christmas might be hard, but…we'll get through it." He turned to Tommy. "I have to thank you, again, for suggesting this. It's going to be a lot of fun."

"No problem, man," Tommy agreed. "I'm glad that you're still up for it. And, besides, we're saving the observatory. We can't have it close down right before Hailey's comet comes around, right?" He rubbed his hands against the legs of his white pants. "I just hope we have enough people to jump to raise money."

"My Dad's gonna do it," Fred jumped in. He scratched his forehead, pushing up the hat that always rested over his light brown tresses. "When he's not working on the construction site he loves to go there and look at the new exhibits."

"That's cool," Bailey agreed. She pouted. "I still wish I could do it. _I'm_ not afraid to jump out of planes." Avalon gave her sister the stink-eye but didn't otherwise reply as the friends laughed once more.

"Well, no one's going to be jumping out of any plane if we don't get going soon," Adam reminded his friends, looking at his watch ."The plane is going to take off in about an hour and we need to get there early so that we can go over the last minute safety precautions and everything."

Avalon motioned to the blank ranger, eyes widening. "And you boofheads wonder why I don't want to do it."

"Aww, don't worry Av." Rocky placed his hands on the orange ranger's shoulders and gently shook her. "If you ever need to do anything dangerous, like crossing the street, one of us will be there to hold your hand the whole way." He laughed and ducked out of the way as the orange ranger scowled and swung a punch at him.

Kimberly giggled. Stooping to pick up her bag, she noticed a pensive expression on Billy's face as he was the only one that hadn't moved from the table to gather his things. She exchanged a glance with Tommy before leaning over towards the blue ranger and waved a hand in his face. "Billy, are you OK?"

He snapped out of his reverie and smiled up at her. "Yeah, Kim. I'm fine." He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before handing her her own. "Thanks for asking." Kimberly glanced at him and seeing that he meant it, she smiled and nodded back.

"You're welcome."

She turned and started to follow the group of out of the Youth Center. Her stomach growled and she stopped walking, moving her hand to her stomach. It growled loudly once more and a dizzy spell washed over her. Letting out a quiet moan, she brought her hand up to her forehead. _Maybe I should've eaten something earlier this morning._ She thought.

"Kim, are you OK?" Adam asked, coming up to her side.

The pink ranger flashed him the smile she had managed to perfect over the past couple of months as her mother would ask her the same question. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit anxious," she explained. "I was in such a rush to get out this morning I didn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast."

"We can go back and get you something really fast," Adam suggested, pointing over his shoulder towards the juice bar. Kimberly followed his gaze and hesitated, watching as Ernie cleaned out the inside of the blender, watching the TV, as well as speaking to Violet McKinley, who seemed to be half-listening to what he was saying. "It won't take long, and besides," he lowered his voice, sharing a secret smile with her. "We can teleport to catch up with the others if we need to."

Kimberly smiled back at him. "That's alright," she replied. "I can just get a bagel or a banana or something down at the launch site. Let's go!" She grabbed onto Adam's arm and tugged him forward and out the Youth Center to catch up to their friends.

* * *

 

"Zedd! I've been calling you for the last ten minutes!" Rita Repulsa shrieked as she walked onto the balcony of the Lunar Palace. "I thought you said you were going to rub my feet!"

"I wouldn't touch your crusty feet with a hundred foot pole," Zedd replied. He turned and motioned towards Earth with his Z-scepter. "Besides, there are more important things we need to worry about. I just had a feeling of a wave of evil coming from Earth. And if I'm not mistaken, it will be the thing that'll destroy the rangers once and for all." He turned and held out a hand towards his wife. "That is, if you don't mind working with the person _I_ choose this time."

Rita scowled. "My plan with Diabolico was going to work, too. I don't understand what happened!"

" _You_ happened, that's what," Zedd said. "You're always messing something up." As Rita's scowl deepened, Zedd leaned in and gave his wife a kiss. "But that's what I like about you, you mess up and I can work my magic and fix it for you. We just work that way, baby."

"Oh, Zeddy, you know how to treat a woman," Rita said with a pleased smile as Zedd gave her another kiss then kissed her neck. "What is it that you have planned this time?"

Pulling himself away from his wife's neck, Zedd dropped his arm from around her and looked down at Earth once more. "As I was saying, I sensed a wave of evil energy and it's gotten stronger by the day. I looked down on Earth and those sniveling humans are doing all of the work for us. It appears that they've found the burial site of the egg."

Rita's mouth dropped open.

'The egg' could've been anything, but she, Zedd, and everyone evil in the known galaxy knew what the 'the egg' was and what it held. Had it really been that long? Had it already been 6,000 years since he was put away? It was always said that he'd come back in that time, but she never believed it. Then again, she had been stuck in that forsaken space dumpster for 10,000 years so what did she know about the passage of time?

"Ivan Ooze is being unearthed?" She questioned.

"Yes, my dear and with him on our side, we'll be unstoppable!"


	2. Free Ride

**Chapter 02  
**

_Free Ride_

* * *

"Now that Ivan Ooze is revealing himself once more, we have to move along with _my_ plan," Zedd said. "We need to outmatch the rangers and the only way we can do that is to send out the ones that are the strongest."

He hoisted his Z-scepter into the air and looked down the long dining table—created by the bones of his years of captors—and locked his eyes on Goldar and Scorpina. "You two are certainly going to be the ones I am going to send out in battle. But we need someone else. There are only three other horoscope monsters that we can choose from, Virginia, Leos, and Taurustria apart from your, Scorpina. I need someone that'll be strong and can hold their own along with you two. You've done nothing but show me that you can do whatever it is that I need you to do and you will be the ones that'll continue to help me slowly defeat the rangers."

"I have a suggestion my liege," Goldar said. Zedd slowly nodded over at him, allowing him to speak. "Let me and Scorpina take the helm. We could've helped destroy the rangers when the evil green ranger was around and when you had turned the blue ranger evil. We managed to deal them a lot of damage when it came to the fight while they had been in Australia. We can hold our own."

Sitting across the table from Goldar, Scorpina slowly nodded. She waited for her chance to speak, but all the while agreed with what Zedd had to say. It was their plan the whole time, get rid of the rest of the horoscope monsters and they could be the ones that would solidify their place as the ones that would destroy the rangers once and for all.

"That's a very interesting thought," Zedd agreed. "But I do have another idea." He waved a hand and brought t back down, so that his fingers rested against the arm of his chair—recently reinforced from the femur of one of his captives. He made a mental note to find some more, there were other pieces of furniture in the Lunar Palace that needed to be fixed. The three waited for a few moments then the door behind him slid open and the three remaining horoscope monsters walked into the room.

"You wanted to see us?" Leos asked.

Zedd turned around in his chair. "Yes," he drawled. "I wanted to give you a fair departure." Lifting up his z-scepter he shot a beam of electricity towards the three monsters and watched as they exploded in a bright flash of light. Turning back around, he casually faced the golden monsters. "They were starting to get on my nerves; Rita can't make a good monster to save her life. Now, as I was saying. We're going to be teaming up with Ivan Ooze and to be sure that he leads the charge in the destruction of the rangers, we need to be sure that we can knock them down as far as we can. You're strong on our own, but we need someone else."

"What about Diabolico again?" Scorpina suggested. "The orange, purple, and blue rangers are clearly spooked by him for different reasons." She smiled maliciously. "One last his dear old mother and the others lost their brother."

"No, we need to save the psychological warfare once more," Zedd grumbled. "Now, I need to be sure that we're going to actually win. With the rest of the rangers behind them, giving them support, they'll be able to come back from our tactics pretty easily." He tapped his fingers on the side of his face. "Who can we get?"

There was the sound of the doors behind hem opening once more and when he expected to hear the sound of his wife's grating voice, instead he heard a voice that was low and ominous. "Well, Zeddy, look no further because my dear sister has contacted me to help."

Swiveling around in his chair, Zedd took in the form that was Rito Revolto. The monster didn't appear to be in resemblance to Rita, as he was completely made of bones. However, Zedd knew it was because of a time when they were young, Rita had wanted a planet for a birthday present but their parents had given her a fire-breathing dragon. In retaliation, Rita had the dragon burn the house down, which had burned Rito beyond recognition. However, that moment in time had turned Rito from being a bumbling little brother to one of the most malicious monsters Rita had ever known.

"Now, I'm aware that Ivan Ooze is someone you want to work with and while he is one of the baddest dudes in the galaxy, you can't get to him or the rangers without me," Rito said. He waved his bone sword around, looking over at Goldar and Scorpina before looking at Zedd once more. "That is…if you want my help."

Wordlessly, Zedd stood up from his seat and motioned for Goldar and Scorpina to follow him. The group of evil doers walked to a room of the Lunar Palace where Finster had his lab set up. He, Squatt, and Babboo, under Rita's shrieking orders, were creating clay molds of Putties that would be sent down to Earth to deter the rangers.

"Everyone stop what they're doing!" Zedd ordered. "We have a new plan!" Finster, Squatt, and Babboo hesitated, unsure whether or not they were going to follow his orders or not as Rita was the one they had done most of their work for.

"What is it?!" Rita snapped, turning to towards her husband. She then noticed her brother and a loud piercing scream, even louder than her already squeaky voice, and grabbed her brother in a hug. Zedd let out a low growl, wincing at the loud screeching. "Rito Revolto! I didn't think I'd see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just eliminating some rangers, Sis," Rito replied nonchalantly. "You know how it is."

"Yes, my dear." Zedd stepped forward. "Rito is going to help us destroy the rangers once and for all. The first thing we're going to do is go find Ivan Ooze and open his place of holding. And we need to do it right now. Not only will they be stuck trying to deal with him when he first opens up, but then we'll swoop in when they're distracted and _destroy_ them _and_ Angel Grove." He started to rub his neck. "And anything that manages to survive, we'll take them and skin them alive. I've needed to fix a lot of the furniture around here."

Rita draped her arm around Zedd's shoulders. "I love it when you talk evil like that."

Goldar and Scorpina exchanged glances and made retching sounds, pretending to stick fingers down their throats. Rito, on the other hand, started to wave around his bone sword. "While you guys get Ivan, I'll be glad to start on the flailing! I haven't heard the torturous screams of my prey in a long time. It'll be music to my ears."

"Not yet," Zedd declared. "First we have to find Ivan!" He waved his scepter and a portal opened in a swirl of red light. He, Goldar, Scorpina, Rita, and Rito stepped through the portal and the five were beamed down to earth, where the portal had opened in the middle of the construction site. Zedd looked around, noting how empty it was, and waved a hand, following the energy of darkness over to a spot that was covered by a small mound of loose dirt. "Ah, here it is!"

"Are you sure?" Rito asked, his voice lowering to a murderous tone.

"I'm positive." Zedd took a step back and motioned for Rita to hold up her magic wand. "Now." The two placed their wand and scepters together and mixed their powers together, bright bolts of magic and electricity. The other monsters stepped back and watched as the mixture of dark energy zapped along the ground in a circle and the loose dirt fell away before revealing a large, purple egg held being held by black talons.

As the dark energy continue to swirl around the egg, the talons dropped away and the egg opened to reveal purple goop inside.

"And I thought I saw worse on my slug sandwich," Rita muttered, her upper lip curling. "This looks like snot! Why would we come to find this?"

"Patience, my dear. For once in your life, please just be patient." He motioned to the inside of the egg. "This is the contents that will have us destroy the world once and for all. Then we'll take over the galaxy and continue to have free reign over all of the others that come our way."

"A tub of snot is going to do that?" Goldar asked.

"Quiet!" Scorpina snapped at him. "They know what they're doing! You have to have faith in our Master and Mistress." She looped her arm through Goldar's and moved closer to him. She murmured, "Remember our plan. It's not going to come through unless we go along with what they want, Goldar." She continued to stroke his arm, her lips curling up into a warm smile as he shook his head, looking away. "It's like Lord Zedd has said, have patience."

Goldar nodded.

The contents inside the egg started to swirl around then started to form a shape, moving out of the egg and onto the ground. The morphological being stretched his arms, legs, and neck before addressing the league of monsters in front of him. "You won't believe how long I've been in there," he said. "Now I know the meaning of eggs being scrambled."

"I know the feeling," Rita agreed. "Try being in a space dumpster for 10,000 years."

Ivan reached out and grabbed onto Rita's hand, kissing the back of it. "I feel your pain," he said to her. Zedd growled and pushed Ivan's hand away from his wife, back to himself. "I see I struck a nerve with the husband. My apologies."

"Please do," Goldar said, earning another sharp glance from his golden companion. Was it his fault he couldn't stand the mushyness that his former completely evil Master constantly put out whenever the two of them were around each other? He didn't think so. Besides, it was all he could stomach, something had to get the Prince of Darkness back to the evil overlord he had been.

"And not that it's not great to see you all, but what reasons do you have for waking me out of my slumber?" Ivan asked, bringing a hand up to twist around his chin. "Not only am I glad to be back, but I plan on catching up on everything I missed. You know…the Brady Bunch reunion."

Zedd took a step closer to Ivan. "Zordon of Eltar…" The words immediately caused the jovial expression on Ivan's face to twist into one of pure fury. The purple monster's chest even started to heave up and down, electricity crackling at his fingertips. "He needs to be destroyed. We shall team up and get rid of him _and_ the pesky power rangers!"

"I will obliterate him," Ivan replied, chest still heaving. "I will crush him and all of the existence of the Power Rangers. Never again will I have to hear the name, Zordon! It will be like he never existed. And it'll be so easy. He hasn't faced anyone like me in a long time; he will be in for a rude awakening when they come to face me!" As if to prove his point he pointed a finger towards a large bolder that sat on the side of the construction site, and a bolt of electricity shot out and crashed into the walk, immediately blowing it up.

The evil monsters ducked out of the way as dust and dirt rained down upon them. Due to the heat of the lightning, the rock had half turned to molten while the other had been shot towards the sky. Ivan turned back to Rita and Zedd, grinning.

"Leave this to me," he growled.

Zedd nodded. "Rito, Goldar, Scorpina, go now and start attacking the city! The rangers won't know what hit them!"

"Yes, sir!" Goldar and Scorpina replied and disappeared in a rush of flames.

Rito laughed lowly, evilly as he disappeared in a rush of flames and skulls.

Everything was going perfectly.

* * *

"Man, I wish I was going up there with them," Fred said as he watched the rangers get their jump gear on and move towards getting into the biplane that would take them to the drop zone. "It would be so cool! How many other teenagers can say they went skydiving?"

"How many other teenagers can say their father's went skydiving and landed in the parking lot," Bailey shot back. She flashed him a teasing smile. "About two-hundred feet away from where they were suppose to land." Rolling his eyes, Fred reached out and knocked her on the arm. "C'mon, mate, it's not that embarrassing."

"That's what you think," Fred replied.

Avalon laughed as the three turned around and started to walk towards the area where they could watch their friends jump. Along the way, they bumped in to Bulk and Skull, who was heading towards the jump area. "Hey guys," She greeted her friends. "Are you ready to jump, too?"

"Oh yeah!" Bulk agreed. "The Stealth Eagle is ready to fly!"

"So you're the Stealth Eagle and you're…" she turned to Skull, looking him up and down, taking in the feathers that were attached to the helmet he held in his hands. The jump pack that was on his back caused him to lean backwards every few seconds where he would rock forwards once more, hoping to regain his balance. "The spring chicken?"

Skull laughed loudly before turning serious. "No, the Swooping Swallow."

"Like that's even better," Fred muttered. Bailey elbowed him in the side and the two shared a secret smile as they tried not to laugh.

"Good one," Avalon said. "Well, you might want to get up there, the plane's leaving soon. I'll be cheering you guys on." She smiled to her friends once more before walking around them and coming to a stop by Mike Kelman, who stood with a parachute around his arms.

"So why don't you go out with him, Av?" Bailey suggested. "He's nice and was one of the few people that you were friends with when you first started going to Angel Grove High." The orange ranger gave her sister a look, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "I'm just saying that you've been alone long enough. You could use a boyfriend."

"Geez, now you're starting to sound like Kim," Avalon said. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, it'd never work." She tilted her head to the side and looked at Bailey out of the corner of her eye. "It'd bring him too much trouble."

Bailey was confused for a moment, then immediately understood what she meant. Skull wasn't a ranger and a relationship with someone that she had to keep a secret that big from would be hard to keep. Which was why Kimberly and Tommy were so lucky-and if Bailey wasn't seeing things-Rocky and Aisha. They were all rangers and understood what it meant to be busy and to have to disappear at a moment's notice. Even Avalon sort of understand what that was, as she had dated Chase when she was still part of the Vipers and the two of them had been working together. _Though, I can't actually say it was good work,_ Bailey reminded herself.

But what did that mean for her and Fred? They weren't in a relationship, not exactly, or maybe they were. She didn't even know, really. Dating was nothing but confusing in general and considering the only thing the two of them had done was hold hands and he kissed her on the cheek once…they were just friends, right? _But friends don't keep secrets; even Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone know that we're rangers. Why can't Fred?_

She looked at the teenage boy out of the corner of her eye and let out a quiet sigh. How would he react if she told him she was one of the power rangers? Would he be mad? Would he be shocked? Would he be excited? Better yet, would he still be her friend? Apart from the rangers in general, Fred was the only one her age that was her friend and things could be kind of lonely. She didn't want to jeopardize that.

"That and the fact that she'd probably scare them all away," Fred joked. Avalon reached out and smacked him on the back of the head as he laughed and rubbed his head. He turned to his father, who had watched the exchange and laughed along with the girls. "You're just going to let them abuse me like that?"

"If there's anything that'll get you to understand that woman rule the world, then I'm all for it," Mike replied with a laugh. He shifted his parachute in his hands. "And, besides, the way I see it, I wouldn't be the one that would talk about girlfriends." He and Avalon laughed as Fred and Bailey glanced at each other and smiled shyly, looking away as they blushed. Mike winked at Avalon. "I thought that'd get him."

"If that's the easiest way to get my sister to stop talking for once, I'm all for it, mate," Avalon agreed.

The purple ranger stuck her tongue out at her sister then rested her arm along the fence that held them off from the drop zone. The four watched as some of the earlier jumpers came down and landed on the large target with precision. It was only a few moments later that the rangers all came down, much to the excitement of the crowd around them.

One by one the rangers dropped down onto the landing zone, landing in the middle of the target, perfectly. Avalon, Fred, Bailey, and Mike all cheered for their friends before hurrying over after they had all landed and grabbed their parachutes, starting to fold them.

"Great job!" Bailey cheered, hurrying over and giving each of them a hug, starting with Tommy. "Nice work with the snowboard, Bro."

"Just when we thought that there was something you _couldn't_ do," Avalon added, causing Rocky and Adam to laugh. She leaned over and gave him a hug, too. "Bonzer!"

"Thanks Sis," Tommy said to the two girls. Though the Mitchell sisters hadn't been adopted yet, the time they spent with the Olivers over the summer had the three of them calling each other by their new relationship as soon as the papers had gone through. "You really should've come up with us."

"Yes! It was awesome!" Kimberly agreed. "Once you're up there…you feel completely weightless."

"Yeah, even though I had that huge breakfast before we went," Rocky added. He placed his hands on his stomach, gently rubbing it. "I'm hungry already."

"Did you forget that gravity is a thing?" Avalon asked with a teasing lift to her voice.

Billy laughed. "As much as I've drilled it into your head after your many falls, I don't think that's possible, Ava."

Mike placed his hands on Fred's shoulders. "Fred here has been dying to let him go sky diving, too," he said. "Before today I was really against it, but after having experienced it myself and seeing how well you kids have done after a few months of lessons, I think it may have just changed my mind."

"Just as long as you don't land in the parking lot again, Dad." Fred patted his father's hand, before pushing it off his shoulders. "That was more than enough embarrassment that I could handle."

"But don't forget that it was for a good cause," Adam pointed out. He motioned around the fairgrounds where food carts had been set up for those that would be watching the jumps by the professionals and volunteers. "The proceeds from our jump as well as the food that they sell are going towards the conservatory."

"The one that we just saved!" Aisha cried as she hurried over. She stated to bounce on her toes, pointing over her shoulders. "I just got word from the owner of the center and we did it! They're keeping the place open!"

"Congratulations," Mike said to the group. He reached out a hand towards Tommy and the white ranger took it, shaking it firmly. "What you guys did for the place is very much appreciated. The conservatory has a new lease on life thanks to you all."

"No problem, man, we're glad to do it," Tommy said.

"Especially now that Hailey's comet is coming in a few days time," Bailey added. "I've always wanted to see it, but it's never come close to where we are." She shrugged good-naturedly then froze, looking around at the group then behind at the drop zone that was being cleared up. "Hey guys…where're Bulk and Skull?"

"Oh yeah! The blokes went up with you lot. I said I'd watch em' come down," Avalon added.

"I'm sure they're OK," Aisha said as all eyes turned towards the dark blue sky the reflected the perfect day. "If anything they may have bribed the pilot to drop them off at Ernie's. He's doing a free desert with lunch special for the occasion." She laughed along with the rangers.

"Well, if that's the case let's head over there," Avalon suggested. She placed her hands on her chest. "It's on me, this time and, yes, Rocky, you can get whatever you want," she added, noticing the red ranger's eyes lit up.

Adam nodded then smiled shyly. "Sounds good to me," he agreed. "I told Sabrina I would meet her there after the jump. We're going to have lunch together." He ignored Aisha's and Kimberly's well-timed coos and looked at his watch. "Let's just get our rollerblades and then we can all head over there."

"OK." The orange ranger then turned to Fred and the purple ranger. "Are you guys coming too?" She asked them.

"Nah." Fred shook his head. "Dad said he would take us to check out the carnival games and stuff." He gave the rangers a short wave and nudged Bailey's arm before taking off with his father. "I'll see you guys later."

"Hoo roo," Bailey added, waving as well before hurrying to catch up to the guys.

The older rangers grabbed their parachutes and started to head towards the locker room of the observatory, used by those that were jumping that day. The girls and boys separated into their own locker rooms and stared to get read. Avalon straddled the bench that sat in the middle of the locker room floor, adjusting the strap of her white overall shorts, an orange crop top underneath and her orange flannel shirt around her waist.

"Was it really that fun?" She asked them.

"Totally, Av. You really should've come with us," Aisha said as she changed. "It was a blast."

"I'll keep that in mind next time," the orange ranger said calmly. "But watching it was just as cool." She waved a hand. "Scores didn't count, of course, but Fred, Bay, and I had a good time judging everyone's landings."

"Mmm. And how'd we do?" Kimberly closed her locker door and leaned against it, pressing a hand to her hip. Her eyes were lit up with mirth that only the pink ranger could hold."

"Perfect score of course. We gave Mike a reprieve because of his…not so stellar landing, but he hadn't practiced as much as you guys did."

"Speaking of." Kimberly moved forward and straddled the bench in front of Avalon, leaning towards her. "Are Bailey and Fred dating yet? It's really cute the way they act so shy around each other. They always say young love is the more sincere kind of love."

"Who says that?" Aisha laughed.

Kimberly paused, rolling her eyes. "OK, I did. But it's true." Her statement caused the orange ranger to snort, rolling her eyes. Indignantly, the pink ranger reached out and slapped her on the arm. "Hey, what I'm saying is true!"

"If that were the case then my dates with Chase would've been to walk around the mall and look at the stores, not to case them out to see which the best to rob were," Avalon said. She then let out a quiet sigh, noticing Kimberly's eyes widen and hearing Aisha's gasp. She had actually forgotten she left that part out of the story she had told Rocky, Adam, and Aisha about her past months before. _Now that I think about it, I don't think I've told anyone but Kim,_ Avalon thought, noticing the wave of guilt that washed over her. Scratching the back of her head, she turned to the yellow ranger, who continued to gape at her, holding her shirt in her hands. "Yeah…I, uh, I dated Chase a long time ago."

"The one that led The Vipers?"

"Yeah."

"But…why? Wasn't he kind of dangerous?"

A light blush tinged the orange ranger's cheeks as she shrugged nonchalantly, trying to downplay the situation. "In a good way," she said in his defense. "And in a bad way. He was there for me when no one else was, that was it, really."

"Good, because he doesn't seem like your type." Aisha shared a knowing smile with the pink ranger before pulling her shirt over her head and closing her locker door. She started to pull on the protective elbow and knee padding for her blades.

Now at that statement, the orange ranger looked back and forth between the pink and the yellow. "Oh really? And what is my type?" As Kimberly opened her mouth, she held up her hand. "Better yet, now that I'm spilling out all of my secrets, mate, Jason is _not_ my type. In fact, I kissed him twice and each time I did kiss him it proved it so you can stop there."

The loud shriek that came from Kimberly's mouth was sure to have the boys rushing in, thinking there was a putty attacking. But as the seconds passed and the girls stayed silent, Kimberly with their hands over her mouth, the three started to laugh. Finally, when she caught her breath, Aisha moved onto the bench behind Avalon and the three girls turned so that they were facing the same way. "I thought there was something going on with you, two," Kimberly finally said.

"Nothing was going on, boofhead," Avalon insisted. "Besides, you only think that because you were trying to set us up. Sure, the chemistry was there, but…"

"Well, if you're not interested in Jason, who _are_ you interested in?"

Skillfully, Avalon changed the subject from herself over to the yellow ranger that sat on her other side. "Why don't you ask her, yeah? I'm surprised you're not trying to use your matchmaking skills to set up with Rocky."

Now the African-American girl appeared embarrassed as she lowered her gaze. "I don't know…what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, you and Rocky," Kimberly insisted. "I saw you at the funeral, you didn't let go of each other's hand all day. Granted, it's was a sad occasion, but I can tell just by the way he looks at you that he's totally into you."

"And you'd know that from the way Tommy's always looking at you, right?" the orange ranger asked sarcastically, causing the yellow ranger to laugh and the pink to roll her eyes. They were interrupted by the sound of the door to the locker room opening.

"Are you girls ready to go?" Rocky called impatiently. "I'm ready to get some food."

"Coming!" Aisha quickly called back. She turned back to the pink and orange rangers, who now exchanged a look. The yellow ranger's upper lip curled. "Shut up," she said, causing the girls to laugh once more and gather their pads and rollerblades. Avalon was the first to finish putting hers on and left the locker room. "Hey, Kim, she never answered your questions." Kim thought for a moment then smiled, shaking her head. "She's good at that."

"She's not the only one," Kimberly said mysteriously. "C'mon." The two remaining female rangers quickly finished putting their pads on before heading out of the locker room and outside of the observatory.

"All right!" Rocky punched the air. "To Ernie's!"

The rangers all let out whoops and hollers of excitement and started to rollerblade to the local youth hangout. The whir of their small rubber wheels on the asphalt hummed around them with every stride they took, coupled with their laughter and cries of excitement as they went. The warm summer sun beamed down at them as they moved along the path at a leisurely pace, taking in the sights around them as they went. The gentle breeze wrapped itself around the group of friends as they continued to glide past the sites around them; the construction area that was going to replace the office buildings that had been destroyed in one of their last major battles, the fountains that lined the areas in front of large buildings, playgrounds, restaurants.

The rangers weaved gracefully around dog walking adults and bike riding children, greeting them all with a smile before gliding past. Of course the boys couldn't help but show off a little, if there was ever a large embankment to jump over or a set of stairs to roll down they attacked it with the same amount of confidence they had in battle. The girls weren't left out though, as they showed off their skills on the rollerblades on smaller embankments and jumps.

Soon they spotted Ernie's juice bar in the distance and Rocky started to pump his legs faster, practically able to see the free desert in front of his face. But it was the sound of his communicator going off that dashed his hopes and dreams and he quickly skidded to a stop. Aisha, who was right behind him, crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"Oh, sorry 'Sha," Rocky quickly apologized. He reached out and grabbed onto her hands, pulling her back to her feet. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm good. " She reached up, adjusting her helmet so it sat just right and flashed him a smile. "I'm good to go."

"C'mon, let's go over there," Billy said, pointing off towards an area that was enclosed by bushes. "No one will come by." He led the teens over to the area and leaned close to Tommy as he lifted his communicator to bring him in connection with the Command Center.

"What's going on Alpha?"

 _"You're needed at the Command Center immediately,"_ Alpha replied. _"I have Bailey on her way now, too."_

"Got it," Tommy said. "We're headed up."

The rangers teleported to the Command Center and arrived at the same time Bailey did. She brushed her hair back, placing a stuffed animal on the floor of the Command Center and hurried over to her friends, standing at attention. Alpha was already passing back and forth at a frantic pace, babbling a mile a minute.

"Rangers," Zordon said as soon as they arrived. "You need to move quickly. The planet is in grave danger. Our sensors indicated dark energy has been released on the planet and, unfortunately, it has been proven true."

Billy placed his hands on his hips. "What kind of dark energy, Zordon?"

"There was a morphological being locked away 6,000 years ago," Zordon explained. "He ruled the world under horrific powers with his most powerful weapons. He had been lured into a hyperlock chamber and buried deep underground by heroes like yourselves. Unfortunately, the chamber has been opened and he may immediately go after his ectomorphicons. If he finds them, the world is in grave danger."

"Can you send us down to the coordinates?" Adam asked. "It'd be best if we knew where to find him rather than go looking."

"As it is, he's free and, as Alpha has said, has started looking for his weapons. We have his exact locations and can send you there right now," Zordon said.

"But please be careful, rangers," Alpha warned them. "He's very powerful."

"No worries, Alpha, we can handle him," Bailey said confidently.

Alpha nodded and pressed a few buttons on the control panel and teleported the rangers to the construction site. The day had passed quickly, as the jumps from the plane had been done throughout the day. Now night had fallen and the rangers slowly moved through the construction site, quietly.

"This place just screams horror movie, yeah?" Avalon said, looking around.

"So I guess splitting up would be a bad idea," Rocky joked.

"A very bad idea," Tommy agreed. "Keep your eyes peeled."

"Well, you don't have to go looking too hard." The drawl came from behind them and the rangers whirled around to find Ivan Ooze standing behind them. He laughed, showing off his sharp teeth, slowly moving towards them. "I figured I'd introduce myself. My name is Ivan Ooze." He pointed over towards Bailey, noticing her purple attire. "And you stole my color," he remarked. "I guess a lot has changed over the past 6,000 years, teenagers don't understand what does and doesn't belong to them. But once the Earth is taken over, you'll get the message."

"Don't count on it," Rocky declared, pointing at him. "We're not going to let you take over Earth."

"Really?" Ivan didn't appear to be threatened in the slightest. In fact, his voice held a slight sense of amusement. "I didn't realize I was dealing with the National Guard."

"Try the Power Rangers," Tommy said.

Ivan snorted. "Zordon couldn't do anything on his own for once? He still uses a bunch of kids to use his dirty work." He twisted his mouth to the side before bringing his hands up. "Well, we should even the playing field shouldn't we?"

Electricity burst out form his hands and onto the ground where a group of footmen appeared at his side. They all had similar appearances to Ivan, though their eyes were hollow and teeth a lot sharper, claws extending from the ends of their fingers. They weren't like normal putties and the rangers could easily see that.

"We'll see how well you can handle my Ooze Men," Ivan crowed. "I bet you'll be coming back in different colored coffins!" He laughed loudly and teleported out of the construction area. The Ooze Monsters started to converge upon the rangers, moving closer towards them with each step they took.

The rangers watched in despair as the Ooze Monsters continued to move closer towards them, pushing them to the edge of the cliff.

They were trapped.


	3. Begin Again

**Chapter 03**

_Begin Again_

* * *

Billy's eyes moved over the Oozemen in front of him. Not only did they appear to be just as bit disgusting as Ivan himself, but he couldn't determine what would be a weakness on the monsters. Rita's putties were just plain weak, though that wasn't saying much as the rangers weren't particularly powerful themselves at the beginning.

But then Zedd's putties had the Z-Plate that would break them apart as soon as they were struck there. He couldn't find anything form a quick look on the putties other than they looked like they meant business.

He called out his findings to the others. "Be careful, guys. It doesn't appear that they have a weakness on their bodies."

"All of these things have a weakness," Tommy reminded him. "We just have to find it." He continued to keep his fists up by his face, ready for when one of the Oozemen would attack. His eyes shifted over the monsters as well, taking in their sunken eyes and sharp claws. "I just wish we knew where."

"Only one way to find out!" Avalon declared. She jumped forward and sent a high roundhouse kick towards the Oozeman that was closest to her. She managed to strike it upside the head and rolled her body into a finishing thrust of her fist into its chest, but it grabbed her hand, raked a clawed hand down her arm and flung her back into the rangers, who all reached out to steady her. "Ow!" She made a tsking sound.

"You'd think by now that'd teach you not to go running into fights," Bailey said to her sister.

"All it does it make me want to fight even more."

"Av! Are you ok?" Adam steadied the orange ranger before she fell. The rangers all studied the orange ranger's arm as she lifted it to inspect it herself. The claws had raked three perfect lines down her arm, drawing a little bit of blood, the skin around it puffy. "That looks nasty."

"Adam! Look out!"

Aisha's cry and her sudden grasp of his arm caused him to turn just in time to have claws raked against the side of his face. He cried out and backed away, holding onto the skin. He could feel blood drip down from the cuts, otherwise he was OK.

"This is going to be harder than we thought," Rocky said. The rangers continued to back away from the Oozemen until they were at edge of the cliff. Rocky stumbled, feeling the ground loosen beneath his heels. "Whoa!" He windmilled his arms to stay upright then found himself falling. Reacting quickly, he pushed himself off in a back flip, landing in a low crouch on the ground a few feet below. Smoothing his hair back from his face, he noticed the space around the construction area. "Guys, there's plenty of space down here to fight those creeps!"

"I'll hold em' off," Tommy declared. "You guys get down there!"

"Be careful, Tommy," Kimberly said to her boyfriend before the other rangers dutifully followed the red ranger down to the open space below.

Tommy turned back to the Oozemen as they all leapt towards him at once. He jumped high and struck a few in the face with a spinning kick before launching into his martial arts routine he had been practicing as long as he could remember. Not only had the Oozemen seemed to fall into his trap with each hit but, they were a lot stronger than he anticipated. When putties were knocked back, they stayed down for a long while. But the Oozemen continued to come back upon him in a matter of seconds. Soon, he found himself overpowered and jumped down off of the cliff to join his friends.

The Oozemen followed after him.

"Spread out," he ordered. "They like to come in really close and attack all at once."

"Right!" Came the unanimous reply as the rangers all scattered to get some room to fight.

Looking over towards a pile of rocks, noticing there was a handle of a shovel sticking out between a few boulders. He grasped it and pulled hard, pulling the handle to of socket and held it in his hands. A couple of Oozemen surrounded him and he waited a moment before striking out. He spun the makeshift shinai around and started to twist it this way and that with his body movements, keeping the Oozemen at a far distance from him. Each swing of the shinai caused him to become vulnerable on one side and Oozemen exploited them, attacking with high jump kicks and rakes of their claws across his body whenever a portion of his body was exposed. Finally, Tommy managed to get the upper hand as his forward momentum of a twist of the shinai caused the end to go through an Oozeman's arm. He then raced forward and did a scissor kick, spinning the Oozeman to the ground.

Adam raced a far enough distance away from his friends, flipping over a bunch of rocks as he went. But a stubborn Oozeman stuck to him like glue, following close behind. He felt claws rake down his back and turned just in time for the Oozeman to hit him across the face with enough force that he spun to the ground. Landing hard on his side, the black ranger looked up in time to see the Oozeman reaching for him once more, mouth open wide to reveal teeth as sharp as the claws. Looking to the side, Adam noticed a bucket on the ground and grasped it firmly between his feet. With a flick of his right foot, he sent the bucket flying up onto the Oozeman's head. Adam flipped back to his feet and rolled over the back of the Oozeman before swiping its feet out from underneath him.

Aisha ran away from an Oozeman and ducked as it leapt towards her, flying overhead. She then turned to the two other Oozemen that followed her and kicked up as hard as she could; catching one of them between the legs. The other Oozeman grabbed onto her arm and she flipped over it, landing in a split on the ground. Move onto her stomach, she rolled her feet over her head, bending her back, until her feet were back on the ground. She aimed back-kick to the Oozeman and turned her attention back to the third one. Grabbing its arm and the arm of another Oozeman she brought her arms together, slamming the two together, and then lifted her foot, placing it onto the chest of one Oozeman. Wincing as she felt the claws of the Oozemen dig into her wrists, Aisha used the momentum to walk up their bodies and do a back flip on the ground, bringing her arms down so that the Oozemen fell onto their backs on the ground.

Kimberly found herself stuck in a circle of Oozemen that crowded around her. She jumped up high, doing a high-split that brought her feet into the face of two Oozemen. She then back flipped out of the way of one that dove towards her and came back by thrusting her palm into the Oozeman's face. She squealed in pain when it turned its head at the exact moment and bit down on her fingers with its sharp teeth. Bringing her leg up, she stretched it as high as she could and kicked the Oozeman in the face before doing a cartwheel and striking another Oozeman that was behind her. She did a series of back flips, bringing her towards another Oozeman and lashed out with a high kick, knocking an Oozeman onto its back.

Rocky did a series of back-flips away from the Oozeman that was behind him before turning back and dropping onto the putty behind him with a strike from his elbow. Rolling aside; the red ranger got to his feet and disgust slid over his face as he lifted his elbow to inspect it. Ooze dripped off of his elbow and onto the floor. He wiped it off and turned back to the Oozeman, sending a series of punches and kicked its way. The Oozeman bobbed and weaved, deflecting each of Rocky's hits, getting a straight kick to the red ranger's stomach. Rocky doubled over and got a kick to the face, snapping his head back. "You're going to pay for that one," he declared, brushing his hair back once more. He spun in a few quick circles to get his momentum going and bent back on his right foot, lashing out with his left and kicking the Ooze so hard in the chest that it flew back a few feet before crashing to the ground.

Billy drove a series of kicks into the chest of an Oozeman before being locked in a heated fight. No matter which way he struck the patrolman of Ivan's he couldn't find the weak spot that would cause its ultimate defeat. Still, he ducked and weaved out of the way as the Oozeman continued to attack him. Finally, he managed to grab onto the arm of the Oozeman and flipped him over onto his back on the ground. _It's worth a shot,_ he thought. With a cry, he threw his fist out and struck the Oozeman in the middle of the chest. Instead of the Oozeman breaking apart or turning into a puddle of mush like he expected, Billy was incensed to find that there was a loud squishing sound and ooze exploded against his knuckles. "Huh?" Bringing his hand back to his face, he studied the components of the ooze that dripped off of his knuckles and onto the ground. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head. _Of course these guys would be more advanced than Rita's and Zedd's putties._ "You ooze, you lose," he muttered as a little joke to himself. As soon as the last word was out of his mouth, he was grabbed from behind by an Oozeman and flung to the ground.

Avalon backed up as an Oozeman continuously aimed kicked her way, bringing her head back just in time to keep from getting kicked in the face. She backed up far enough until she stumbled into a worker's bench behind her and fell onto her back. The Oozeman, thinking he had her cornered, started to bring a fist down towards her face. Smirking, the orange ranger crossed her arms in front of her face and pushed back, deflecting the blow. She then lifted her feet and wrapped them around the Oozeman and placed her hands on the workbench right behind her head. With effort, she rolled backwards, bringing the Oozeman with her until they landed on the ground, the Oozeman pinned beneath her. She gave it a strong punch across the face before rolled off it and stomping her foot down towards its chest. The Oozeman grabbed her foot and flung her backwards in a flip where she landed on her feet and twisted backwards, driving its elbow into its stomach and twisting around with her other hand and delivering a crushing blow with her other fist, knocking it to the ground.

Bailey continued to spin in circles, attacked on all sides by the Oozeman that surrounded her. Sucking in a deep breath, she thought back to the martial arts she had learned from Tommy and Jason and executed it upon the Oozemen that sounded her. She lashed out with fists and feet, getting the upper hand at some points, but allowing herself to get attacked back in a few instances. She found herself grabbed by the shoulders and let out a cry of surprise as she was flung forward against the ground. Seconds later, Avalon fell onto the ground next to her on her side. Billy and Kimberly landed beside them after a series of backhand springs to get away from the Oozemen that followed them.

Tommy, Rocky, and Adam joined the group and they huddled together, backing away from the strong monsters as they continued to converge upon the rangers.

"These guys are tougher than I thought," Bailey commented, pushing her glasses up her nose. One of the arms had been bent by a strong attack and barely stung on her face.

"They got us cornered," Aisha said.

"We can't hold em' off," Billy added. "There's too many of em'" The rangers continued to back up until there was no space left for them to go. They all turned to Tommy, who lowered his head, thinking quickly to come up with the best plan of attack.

"Let's do it guys," he finally decided.

"Right!"

"It's morphin' time! Tiger Zord!"

"Ankylosaurus!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-tooth tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurs!"

Once morphing, the rangers all fell into a fighting stance, then stopped when they noticed that the Oozemen weren't in front of them anymore. They had gotten away while the rangers had been distracted by their morphing. "Where'd they go?" Kimberly asked.

Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, Rocky looked towards one of the unfinished buildings on the construction site and watched as the last of the Oozeman hurried inside. "Over there, guys!" He pointed, just in time for the rest of the rangers to notice them as well.

"All right, we're going after them," Tommy said. "Everyone keep your eyes peeled in case it's a trap." The white ranger started towards the abandoned building but was stopped by the purple ranger speaking up.

"Wait!" She called. "These guys are tough and we could hardly defeat them before morphing when we can do that with putties so easily." She shook her head. "I don't know. It seems like it'd be a trap. We clearly don't know what we're up against."

"But we can't let them get away," Aisha protested. "What if they start to wreak havoc on the city or something?"

The purple ranger placed her hand on her chest. "Right now, it's best to see if we can figure out what these guys are capable of, yeah? I'm going to teleport back to the Command Center. Zordon and Alpha know a lot about Ivan Ooze; maybe they can help me figure out a way to defeat these guys. Come up with a plan."

"That's a good idea, Bailey," Billy agreed before turning to the other rangers. "If we can stall them long enough, then we can get a sense of what's going to stop them. I tried looking for weak points but couldn't find anything."

"Got it." Tommy turned to the purple ranger and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You go back to the Command Center; we'll go after the Ooze monsters. Let us know if there's anything you find out."

"Right." Bailey nodded and placed her hands on her power morpher, teleporting back to the Command Center in a streak of bright purple light. The rangers watched them go before heading off into the unfinished building.

It was damp and dark inside. Somewhere water periodically dripped to the floor, echoing around the rangers. They slowly started to walk around, looking for the Oozemen. There weren't many places to hide, however the footmen were still out of sight, waiting to jump out and attack the rangers when they got the chance. However, this time, they weren't alone.

* * *

Bailey landed back at the Command Center and quickly pulled off her helmet. "Zordon, Alpha, we got overpowered by the Oozemen and we need to find a way to get rid of them," she explained. She turned towards the floating head that was her mentor. "You know a lot about Ivan, do you have any ideas?"

"My sensors indicated that you were too late to stopping the egg from stopping Ivan," Zordon said in resignation. "I fear he may already be on his way."

Bailey's lower jaw dropped a she looked up at her mentor before turning to Alpha. She had never seen him appear so defeated before. She moved forward and started to press a series of buttons on the control panel. A tiny door on one of them opened, bringing up a futuristic computer. She started to move through the charts and figures that came up on the screen, detailing those that the rangers were up against. _There has to be something here that can help us._

"Don't worry Bailey, we'll think of something," Alpha said, moving to her side and starting to press buttons as well. "But don't worry; no one can enter the Command Center without a Power Coin." The two continued to work in frenzied silence for a few minutes before the warning klaxon started to go off.

Bailey jumped at the sound and whirled around, watching as a purple slime started to come through the doors of the Command Center. She turned to Alpha and he looked back at her—head tilted to the side in worry—before bringing her hands up. "Ankylo Sickle!" Her newest weapon appeared in her hands and she held it tightly, continuing to watch as the purple slime continued to ooze through the doors. She swallowed thickly, moving a bit closer to Alpha as the seconds passed.

 _You can do this, Bay. Your friends are counting on you to help them._ She took another breath and watched as the purple slime came together and Ivan formed out of the puddle. He grinned, eyes light up with an evil fire, as he looked around at the command center. "My, my, not much has changed over the past 6,000 years," he drawled. "Not only are you as insufferable as ever, but you still have your head in the clouds."

"Don't you dare talk about Zordon that way," Bailey snapped eyes on the purple morphological being. "He's done a lot more good for us and anyone that's on his side than you could ever hope of doing."

Ivan turned his gaze towards her just in time for Alpha to come up on his side and send a karate chop into his stomach. Rolling his eyes down towards the animatornic robot, Ivan lifted a hand and zapped a bolt of electricity onto the robot, sending him in a frenzy as little crackles of electricity surrounded him. "Ankylo Sickle!" Bailey called once more. She threw her weapon towards Ivan and he became entangled in the chain that held the weapon to him, digging into his back enough to cause him to groan painfully. "Ankylo Charger!" Her other weapon appeared in her hands and Bailey charged it up before letting out a blast of energy over towards Ivan.

Ivan smirked and held up a hand right before the attack crashed into him.

The charged up attack deflected off his hand and shot back towards the purple ranger with an added boost of electricity of his own power. Bailey was hit in the chest in a direct hit and with a scream of pain and terror, went flying backwards into the wall behind her. She crashed hard against it and bounced to the floor, rolling a bit before coming to a stop, where she demorphed.

"That's what you get for interfering with me," he said. "And for stealing my color." He walked up to Zordon's power tube and stood in front of it. "Is this all you've got? A bunch of teenagers that don't hold a candle against me?" He tilted his head to the side. A candle?" he mused. "That reminds me, when all is said and done I'm going to set fire to this city and watch as it and its people burn to the ground. That'll be a great parting gift."

"You'll never get away with this, Ooze," Zordon rumbled.

"YOU ROBBED ME OF MY PRIME!" Ivan shouted at him with so much ferocity that the room shook. "I was the best thing that had happened to my kingdom! My ectomorphic zords were pure genius and you threw it all away and sealed me up in that god forsaken prison. For years I wanted to come back and show you what I've been made of. You see, I've become stronger now that I've been able to harness my energy and you've made a grave mistake, making an enemy out of me!"

Ivan lifted his hands and screamed loudly, expelling the energy and power from his body, sending shock waves through the Command Center. Ceiling tiles started to fall, computer panels exploded; giant tubes that surrounded the Command Center broke apart and fell. Sparks flew and little fires started all the while Ivan laughed uproarisly and Alpha and Bailey were trapped inside. Finally, one of Ivan's last streaks of energy shot into the Zordon's Power Tube, immediately causing it to implode. The sage warrior that had been stuck in his time warp was attacked along with it, rapidly aging as his body fell amongst the remnants of his tube.

Gasping for air, Zordon turned to look at Ivan, who walked over, standing above him. "Do what you want, Ivan," he wheezed. "But know that the Power Rangers will defeat you."

"You're finished Zordon," Ivan growled in response, smirking with mirth. "No one can stop me. I'm going to be the new ruler of the universe and you'll have to spend the last moments of your life knowing you _failed_."

Ivan took a step back from the broken tube and teleported out of the Command Center.

Zordon closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, saving the little energy he had left.

Scattered around the room, Alpha and Bailey remained unconscious.

* * *

"This place really gives me the creeps, guys," Rocky said as he walked along with the rangers. They had been inside the unfinished building for all of ten minutes and still hadn't found any of the Oozemen they were looking for.

"You're telling me," Kimberly agreed, moving closer to Tommy. "The sure picked a place that was right for them. All damp, dark, and gross. Ugh!" She shuddered. "It's so gross!"

Billy quietly nodded as he walked along side them. "I've got a bad feeling about this place. I'd probably feel better if we had any ideas of where to find these guys." He looked over at Rocky, Adam, and Aisha and the three of them nodded. "Activating Power Scan!" A small satellite slid out of the top of his helmet, much like the horn above a triceratops' nose, where a small satellite appeared on top and circled around.

"Activating Power Beam," Aisha said. The top of her helmet lit up in bright light that illuminated the area ahead of them.

"Activating Power Scope," Rocky said. The front visor of his helmet narrowed with a red light moving back and forth. The inside of his helmet gave him the readings of the life form that were around them.

"Activating Power Tone." Adam's helmet expanded at the sides, technologically advanced speakers poking out, amplifying the sounds of everything around him, but cancelling out white noise and his breathing as well as the breathing of his friends.

There was a moment of silence as the four rangers waited for their helmets to pick up something. Unfortunately, they came up with nothing. Either the Oozemen really were good at hiding, or there was something they were missing.

"Are you picking up anything?" Tommy asked. Before any of the rangers could get a word in, in response, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina flew out from the shadows and struck the rangers, causing them to crash back to the ground. The Oozemen came out of hiding as well, standing behind the two golden monsters and the monster that was made form bones. "Should've known you guys would be behind this somehow," he growled, getting to his knees.

"The Oozemen are with them," Rocky pointed out.

"Ivan must be working with Rita and Zedd," Billy added. He lowered his head as he thought about the, the small satellite still whirring, now going off with the indications of the monsters in front of him. The Oozemen continued to hold off behind them, waiting for their orders. "Why else would they have suddenly run off? They were waiting for us to have our guards let down."

"And now that they're done, we're going to destroy you!" Rito snarled. He brought a hand up to his eyes and when he lowered them a red beam shot out towards the rangers. They were hit directly by the beam and blasted backwards once more.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out of us this time," Avalon said, struggling to her feet. Her whole body ached, the gash on her forearm throbbing underneath her suit. She clenched her hands into fists. "We can't give up!"

"You ready guys?" Tommy asked.

"Aww, look at them banding together," Scorpina teased. "Looks like it'll be their last." Her eyes flashed as she held onto her bone sword. She and Goldar exchanged glances and leapt towards the rangers with Rito and the Oozemen right behind them.

An ooze man charged at Tommy and before it got within inches of him, Tommy did a roundhouse kick making it fall backwards and hit the ground. He then summoned his sword and raced forward, clashing it against Goldar's. The two were locked in a heated battle, with kicks and slashes of their swords, every now and then; Tommy would duck out of the way and attack an Oozeman that came upon his other side.

"Give it up, white ranger," Goldar declared at one moment they were face to face. Holding tightly onto their swords, the two shook as they fought for dominance. "You can't defeat Rita, Zedd, _and_ Ivan. Prepare to fall!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same to you!" Tommy pulled his sword back and crouched low, doing a judo sweep. Goldar's legs came out from underneath him and he crashed to the ground. Raising his sword high above him, Tommy brought it down, but Goldar blocked it before an Oozeman kicked him in the side, knocking him over. With Goldar being free to go after another ranger, three Oozemen flung themselves at Tommy. He reacted quickly by doing a spin kick and knocked two of them off their feet before Tommy sent a powerful kick to the stomach of the three ooze men charged at Tommy. He did a spin kick and knocked two off their feet and converged upon the last one once more. He spun a few times to gain momentum calling, "Have a nice flight," and kicked the Ooze hard enough to send it flying into the wall, immediately being obliterated in the force of the sudden stop.

Another ooze man charged at Kimberly and before it could attack her, she sent powerful kicks to its gut. "You...guys...make...me...sick...sick...sick!" Her voice was filled with disgust as each kick against the Oozeman splattered Ooze against the toe of her boot. She kicked hard once more and the Oozeman flew upwards into the ceiling before crashing to the ground. It staggered, holding onto its front before rolling onto its back. Kimberly noticed that there was a dented area where she had continuously hit it. "Power Bow!" Her weapon appeared in her hand and before she could second guess herself, she brought back the bow and shot an arrow forward and into the Oozeman in the weakened spot. The Oozeman reacted in surprise as the arrow show straight through him, before melting into a puddle of ooze.

Once again, Billy tried to figure out the weak spot on the Oozeman that he was trying to fight. Two more flanked him on his other side and he continuously went around in a circle, doing his best to fend them off. He was suddenly cut off guard by a flying kick from an Oozeman that had barely passed by his face. The blue ranger leaned back at the last second and when he straightened himself, a powerful punch was delivered to the side of his face, spinning him to the ground. He did a kick-up back to his feet and struck an Oozeman directly in the face, knocking it down. He made quick work of the other Oozemen that got close to him, knocking them back far enough that they retreated with him chasing after them.

Aisha and Avalon semi-teamed up as the Oozemen there were fighting kept them in close company with each other. Avalon made use of her parkour skills by bouncing off of the walls and shorter jumps, causing the Oozeman to become frustrated as it tried to fight her. She cart wheeled out of the way of a kick and use her knowledge of street fighting to fight harder. She cupped her hands around the neck of the Oozeman in front of her and brought its head down at the same time she struck up with her knee, hitting him in the face over and over, each blow more vicious than the last. She let go and allowed the Oozeman to stumble back and rolled forward in a somersault, pressing her ankles together and driving up with a strong kick into the Oozeman's face. The kick was strong enough to send the Oozeman flying backwards and crashed into a wall, exploding.

Aisha flipped over an Oozeman, successfully avoiding a kick that was headed towards her face. She then cart wheeled into a series of forward handsprings over towards the Oozeman once more and used the forward momentum to strike upwards with her foot hard enough to send the Oozeman flying into a metal beam, immediately slicing it in half, sending ooze everywhere.

On another side of the unfinished building, the red and black rangers led the Oozemen that followed them off of a platform, giving them enough space to start fighting. They kept their backs to each other as they fought, being able to see the Oozemen on all sides as they approached. Rocky jumped up into the air, doing a split—much like Kimberly had done earlier—and struck two Oozemen in the face. Adam, on Rocky's other side, did a roundhouse kick that sent an Oozeman sprawling to the ground. As he turned back, he suddenly ducked out of the way as Scorpina came rushing towards him, her bone sword held high.

When he moved out f of the way, Scorpina scowled. "You better be ready, Black Ranger!" She snarled. "This time I won't miss!" She threw her sword and it flew towards him, striking him across the chest. His suit ripped open under the bone that ripped through the material and his skin and flew back to Scorpina. She caught the sword and turned it on its side, sensually licking away the blood that dripped down. "Mmm. You taste so good."

Rocky, who had enough, at that point, grabbed Adam's attention. "Double whammy?" He called.

"You're on," Adam nodded back.

The two moved to Scorpina's sides and started to charge the golden female monster. Scorpina scowled as she watched Adam hurry towards her and he couldn't help but wonder once more, if he was really hurting Sabrina. The times that the teenage girl was at school she was the sweetest person on the face of the planet, albeit kind of shy, and the two got along great. But then there was the golden monster that was out of for his blood in his human form as well as when he was a ranger. She was someone that worked hard alongside Rita and Zedd and wanted to face world domination. It hurt him each time they had to fight, but he was doing better to work out his feelings between the two of them as Sabrina and Scorpina were two completely different entities.

 _I hope you know I'm still fighting for you, Sabrina,_ Adam thought as he and the red ranger got close enough. The two bent back on their stationary legs and sent powerful kicks to Scorpina's head, making her fall to the ground. She scowled and swept her legs towards Rocky, hoping to knock him down, but he deflected her blow and elbowed her in the face. Scorpina howled in pain, backing away from the rangers.

Billy was locked in a heated fight with one of the Oozemen that had chased him earlier. _They seemed to be adapting to our fighting styles,_ he thought as time went on. _It keeps getting easier for him to block me._ "Hiya!" Billy threw a punch forward and the Oozeman ducked out of the way, grabbing onto Billy's arm. He spun him around once and flung him off of the platform the two had been standing on. The blue ranger let out a cry as he twisted and turned towards the ground, crashing into a pillar. The blow knocked the wind out of him and turned back towards the Oozeman, looking up at it, trying to catch his breath. "That does it," he murmured. He was starting to get sick and tired of the Oozemen. He held out his hand, ready to get his new weapon. "Stega Stinger," He pushed a button on the side of the weapon and a thin yellow wire shot out of it and wrapped itself around a metal pipe above him.

The rope then retracted, bringing him up into the air and back towards the Platform he had just left. Once back on his feet, Billy grabbed the Oozeman by the arm. "Did you miss me?" He asked tauntingly before smashing the Oozeman on the back, sending him to the ground below where it exploded in a fountain of ooze.

"Pterodactyl thunder whip," Kimberly shouted when she saw an ooze man charging at her. Her Power Bow then disappeared and her newest weapon appeared in her hand. Pressing a button on the side of it a pink whip shot out the end and slammed into the ooze man's chest making it fly off of its feet. "Have a nice trip," Kimberly said as she wrapped the whip around another ooze man's leg and flipped it over onto its back. "See ya next fall," she said as she slashed the whip across another ooze man's chest making it stumble backwards and hit the ground. "Bye bye!" The pink ranger flung the whip at another ooze man's gut knocking it off of its feet. The whip came back into her hand and she grinned down at it, her smile hidden by her helmet.

After throwing an ooze man off of a platform, the orange ranger noticed an Oozeman converging upon her, trying to strike. "Nice try, mate. But not fast enough," She said, and before it could attack her. Avalon jumped off of the platform and sent a powerful corkscrew kick to the Oozeman making it fly backwards into a wall splattering ooze everywhere. She turned just in time to get struck in the face by Rito.

"Now it's my turn to see what you Power Brats are all about!" He cried as the orange ranger was flung to the ground. "But don't be surprised if you wind up skinned alive!" He brought his sword down to her.

"Stega Shield!" Throwing up her hands, Avalon's new weapon, a plated shield, appeared in front of her and she ducked behind it. The force of Rito's sword on top of her shield caused her arms to shake. She pressed up behind him and did a roundhouse kick towards him, causing Rito to move back out of her way. He then took a step forward and slashed wildly with his sword once more. Avalon threw out her free hand. "Stegorang!" Her boomerang appeared in her hand and she threw it as hard as she could. It arched around, heading towards Rito—decapitating a few Oozemen as it went—and blocked Rito's sword, before coming back to her hand.

Avalon moved her sword aside and threw a punch at Rito but another Oozeman leapt out of nowhere and sent a heavy barrage of kicks towards her, causing her to fly back against the wall. Her shield fell from her hand as Avalon crashed into the wall behind her, falling to the floor. She struggled to suck in a breath, the wind knocked out of her. _Dammit. What am I going to do now?_ She watched as Rito advanced on her, bringing his word up high above his head.

"Seriously, I thought it was going to be harder than this," Rito complained. "Or more entertaining in some way. I guess I'll start by poking out your eyes and slowly stripping your skin from your bones."

Avalon clenched her hand into a fist, gritting her teeth as fury blazed in her eyes. If only she could catch her breath.

"Hold on Ava!"

The orange ranger looked up time to see Billy swinging down towards her and Rito via the use of the line from his Stega Stinger. When he got close enough, he let go and flew forward, striking Rito on the side of the head with a direct hit form his foot. "Power Lance!" He summoned his power weapon and clashed it against Rito's sword, driving him back until he managed to get a well placed kick to its chest, hitting him hard enough so that Rito fell to the ground.

The blue ranger then hurried back to his best friend, kneeling down by her side. He studied her as she continued to struggle to breathe. "Hey, calm down. Take deep breaths and you'll be OK." He placed his hands on the side of her helmet, forcing her to look at him. "Are you all right?"

Avalon finally sucked in a loud gasp of air, her breathing slowly regulating then nodded. "M'fine, Smurf, thanks." She clenched her hands into fists, turning her attention back to the minions around her. "These guys deserve a harsh reality check, though." Billy held out his hand and she grabbed onto it, allowing herself to get pulled to her feet. "Ready to teach em' a lesson?"

He squeezed his hand around hers. "You got it."

Tommy led Goldar and the Oozemen to the clearing his friends had converged too. It was going to be too difficult if they didn't get at least one of them out of the way. And the Oozemen were going to be it. He moved until he was with his friends and Goldar, Rito, Scorpina, and the Oozemen came upon them once more.

"You're cornered now, rangers!" Goldar waved his sword towards them.

"That's what you think!" Tommy declared. He summoned Saba, spun it a few times in his hand, and hurled it into the air. Saba flew up towards a crate that was being suspended by a crane. A red beam shot out of Saba's eyes and burned through the line, causing the crate to drop, landing on top of the ooze men and purple ooze to splatter everywhere.

"Yeah," the rangers cheered when the ooze men had finally been defeated.

"Don't get excited yet!" Scorpina smirked.

"You still have to deal with us," Goldar added.

"And is it going to be _fun_!"

The rangers watched as a bolt of lightning beamed down from the sky and struck Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina and they grew to a larger size, stories tall, towering over the rangers.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Avalon said.

"You can say that again," Kimberly agreed, shaking her head. "We need the zords."

"Right," Tommy and Rocky agreed, nodding to each other. The rangers flung their hands into the air. "We need Thunderzord power, now!"

"Stegosaurus, Phoenix ,Thunderzord Power!"

"Mastodon, Lion, Thunderzord Power!"

"Pterodactyl, Firebird, Thunderzord Power!"

"Triceratops, Unicorn, Thunderzord Power!"

"Saber tooth Tiger, Gryphon, Thunderzord Power!"

"Tyrannosaurus, Red Dragon, Thunderzord Power!"

"White Tiger, Thunderzord Power!"

The zords came together to form the Thundermegazord and White Tiger Thunderzord and they stood up against the three monsters that stood in front of them. "You guys are finished!" Rito declared. He charged towards the White Tiger Thunderzord first, moving its fist out of the way and striking it across the chest with the sword. He then spun towards the Thundermegazord and did the same. The zord fought back and knocked Rito the ground.

"We got him," Rocky cried.

"Now let's finish him!" Adam added.

The Thundermegazord started towards it once more but was cut off by Scorpina, now in her scorpion form, getting in the way and striking them in the face with her stinger. Goldar then raced up from the other side and started to fight the White Tiger Thunderzord. Scorpina shot a beam of red lightning from her eyes and blasted the Thundermegazord until it fell over.

"Hang on," Billy called. "We're going down."

The Thundermegazord fell over and Goldar and Scorpina took turns stomping on the face of the Thundermegazord, driving it into the ground. Rito lifted his sword high and gathered energy, blasting it into the White Tiger Thunder zord. Tommy struck back by having the jewel on the face of his zord glow bright red and blast back to Rita's brother.

The Thundermegazord got back to its feet and stood next to the White Tiger Thunder Zord before coming back together in front of Scorpina, Goldar, and Rito.

"Guys, I don't know how much more of this we can take," Billy said, frantically reading the panels in front of him. "Not only are we losing energy, but if we siphon it from other places on the zord, we stand the possibility of stripping the thundermegazord of its power banks completely."

"What are we going to do?" Aisha asked. "We can't hold them off."

Tommy was silent for a long time. If they didn't defeat these three, then they wouldn't have a chance of protecting Angel Grove form Ivan Ooze, wherever he was. But on the other hand, they were risking their zords and the Thundermegazord. What choice did they have? Lose the ability to defend them or try their hardest and save as many people as they could. "That's a risk we're going to have to take."

Kimberly gasped. She knew her boyfriend; he was caring, loyal, courageous, resilient, all of the things she absolutely loved about him. But this…risking everything in a chance they weren't sure about? "Tommy."

"We don't have a choice, guys." Tommy reminded them. "We made a deal, a promise to protect Angel Grove and Earth the best we could and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we didn't try everything."

"I'm with you, Bro," Avalon piped up. "If it weren't for taking risks, if it weren't for you guys teaching me that some of the best decisions to make would be the hardest, then I probably wouldn't be here right now, yeah?" She turned away from her control panel and looked at the array of colored rangers who were also in the cockpit. "We can do this, mates."

The rangers all looked at each other and nodded, turning back to their controls. "I'll try to stabilize the accelerator," Billy said. He hunched over his control panel and started working as hard as he could.

"Bye bye, rangers!" Goldar shouted.

"Let me show you how it's done!" Scorpina crowed and shot another blast of energy at the rangers. Goldar did the same, giving a devastating blow to the front of the zords. Rito followed it up with a combination of three attacks; his charged up sword, an energy ball, and a beam from his eyes.

The blast caught both zords in devastating hits and the zords started to malfunction. As the controls became wild, the zords started to shake back and forth, alarms blaring and beeping. The rangers were ejected out of the cockpits of their zords and sent screaming down to the ground, where they immediately demorphed; electricity starting to surround them.

As the rangers got up, the three monsters disappeared.

"Hey, what's happened?" Kimberly asked, moving her hair off of her forehead. She winced at the nasty gash that was hidden beneath her hairline, fingers slipping over it.

"We…we demorphed," Billy said.

"What does that mean?" Adam murmured.

Their question was answered as there was a loud explosion, the shockwave sending the rangers to the ground. They turned and watched as small explosions ripped about the Thundermegazord and the White Tiger Thunderzord. The zords twitched, shaking back and forth as they tried to regain their footing, trying to stay together.

"No!" Tommy cried.

He watched as the White Tiger Thunder zord started to fall to pieces. First its head rolled off, bouncing along the ground until it came to a stop, head up and looking towards the ranger that used to pilot it. Then the arms fell apart, leaving the torso and legs left. The White Tiger Thunder Zord continued to try to put up a fight, stumbling around. Finally, it fell to its knees and tottered for a long moment, before pitching forward in another explosion.

"No!" Tommy shouted again.

"Our zords," Aisha gasped. Tears sprang to her eyes as she watched the Thunder mega zord.

"There has to be something we can do," Rocky cried.

"We'll think of something," Adam added.

The zords started to fall apart, much like the White Tiger Thunder Zord did, but in a much more gruesome, heart wrenching way. As it fell, the piece of the zords turned back into the rangers' original dinozords. The pterodactyl zord cried as its wings fell apart, the triceratops zord screamed as its horns fell off, and the Saber-Tooth Tiger zord screeched as its fangs fell apart. The tusks of the Mastodon fell, the arms and tail of the Tyrannosaurus littered the ground amongst the plates of orange metal that fell off the back of the Stegosaurus zord as it fell to its knees.

"STEGGY!" Avalon screamed, watching as her zord fell.

There was another explosion that knocked the rangers back. Tommy twisted around and grabbed onto Kimberly and Avalon, covering their heads as the explosions continued. Rocky brought Aisha into his arms and held onto her, protecting her from the intense heart. Adam and Billy covered their faces with their arms as there was another blast.

Kimberly turned her head and watched as the zords continued to erupt. _No. This can't be happening._ The zords…they had been with them as long as she had been a ranger. She could feel the pterodactyl zord crying out for her, crying out for her mistress to help. She could hear all of the zords crying out for the rangers, hoping that in some way they could be saved as the zords had saved them on many occasions.

But it was futile.

The rangers could feel the terror and pain that their zords went through as the zords continued to explode. _I can't let this happen._ Kimberly wiggled out from underneath Tommy's arm and started to run towards the zords.

"Kimberly!" Billy noticed her movement and ran after her, tackling her to the ground. He cradled his body against hers, ducking his head as there was a final explosion.

"NO!" The scream erupted form Kimberly's throat as long as her vocal chords would allow it, her throat becoming raw, burning with the fire of her passion, her want to save their zords. But it was too late. The explosions died down and when the dust cleared, their zords were left lying on the ground in pieces.

The rangers slowly got to their feet, walking around to their zords. Silently they went to their respective zords, gently touching the metal of their once lively friends. Billy frowned as he kneeled down next to the triceratops zord. Not even months before he had been given a lesson by Avalon, saying that the rangers were connected to their zords in a lot of different ways other than just controlling them. They were a part of each other.

_Billy turned back to the Triceratops zord and reached for it, but it pulled its head back out of the way. Frowning, the blue ranger reached for the zord once more but the zord made a grunting sound and backed away._

_"He's saying that he knows you're upset and thinks you're done working on him," Avalon supplied._

_Looking at her as if he was crazy, Billy crossed his arms over his bare chest. His shirt had gotten covered in grease from working on the first zord and he hadn't wanted to wreck it any further. Besides, the funeral was over, what did it matter what he looked like? "How do you know that?"_

_The orange ranger pointed up at the zord. "He just said so."_

_"I didn't hear him say that."_

_"Because, Smurf, you weren't listening." She took a step closer to him, tilting her head towards the zord. "All of us rangers have a bond with each of our zords; you and Kim have had yours longer than me, Tommy, Bay, Rocky, Adam, or Aisha, but its there. You just haven't been listening lately, though I can understand that." She reached out and ran her hand along the side of the Triceratops._

And now it was too late.

"They're…" Aisha licked her lips, swallowing thickly, trying to find her voice. "They're completely destroyed." Adam, hearing the anguish in her voice reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. The yellow ranger didn't seem to notice it, her eyes directed over to her prone zord.

"We need to get back to the Command Center," Kimberly whispered. "Maybe Alpha and Zordon can find a way to fix them."

Billy shook his head. "It's not that simple," he said. "There's…there's so much work to be put in to try and figure out a way to get them functioning back to their normal capacity. There's…there's just no way."

"Don't say that!" Avalon snapped at her, eyes ablaze with fury. "Don't fucking say that! Our zords have been with us as long as we've been rangers and they've always managed to protect us when we needed them. Now we have to do the same for them." Her dark eyes moved over the zord, her face a mask of fury. "We're going to fix them and we're going to make sure that those guys and Ivan get what they deserve."

"Look." Rocky stepped over to the orange ranger and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her in concern. "This…all of this is a shock to us, but we can't go charging in without a plan…without zords. We need to get back to the Command Center and regroup."

"Right." Billy looked away from the orange ranger and brought his communicator up to his mouth. "Alpha, come in." There was nothing but static. "Zordon?" He tried again. Still, there was no answer. "Bailey? Bay, come in?" When he didn't get an answer for the third time, he looked at the others.

Avalon instantly went white

"What's going on?" Kimberly asked again.

"Something must've gone wrong," Adam said.

"I don't like this." All of the pain and anger the orange ranger had been feeling before was instantly replaced with the utmost concern for her sister. Tommy felt the same way. Reaching out beside him, he put his hand in Kimberly's squeezing it firmly, making sure she was still there. In front of him was the orange ranger, nearly on the verge of hyperventilating. The only person he couldn't see was who was to become his youngest sister, and she wasn't answering the communicator. _But you have to be strong for everyone else._ "We'd better get back," Tommy told his friends. "Let's go guys."

"Right," the other rangers said as they followed their leader back to the Command Center.

* * *

The rangers arrived at the Command Center and found that the doors to the inner chamber were covered in ooze. Exchanging a quick glance, Billy and Tommy reached out and grabbed onto the doors, forcing it open. The slight scent of smoke filled Billy's nose just before the doors opened all the way and revealed the devastating sight.

Even Kimberly couldn't hold in a shriek of surprise. First their zords then the place that had been their headquarters this whole time? There was no way this was happening. It was like a nightmare, a nightmare coming true.

"I don't believe this," she breathed as the rangers slowly walked inside, taking stock of the devastation.

"Look at this place," Tommy said.

"I can't believe it," Adam murmured.

"What happened here?" Aisha asked.

"Bailey?" Billy called, eyes moving around for the youngest ranger and his ally in the Command Center.

Avalon took up the call. "Bay! Where are you?"

There was a slight coughing sound and then a weak, "Over here," sounded from the far end of the Command Center. The rangers hurried over and followed the sound, just as Bailey was stumbling around from the back of the circle that used to be Zordon's tube. Avalon hurried over and encased the purple ranger in a tight hug as the other rangers took in what was left of Zordon's tube.

Kimberly gasped once more when she spotted the withering, gray form in the middle of the broken glass, resting on top of the crystal. "Zordon!" Adam cried.

"What's happening to him?" Aisha asked, looking over the form that used to be their mentor.

Billy gaped down at the being. He knew exactly what was happening but it still took him a moment to register it. "He…he's out of his time warp." He choked on the next words. "He's dying." Bailey whimpered, looking down at their mentor.

The sound of the rangers' voices grabbed Zordon's attention and he looked at them, managing the tiniest of smiles. "Thank goodness you're safe, Rangers." He closed his eyes as pain wracked through his body. "I feared that Ivan and his minions…they had defeated you…just like Ivan's defeated me."

"No." Rocky shook his head. His hands grasped tightly against the materials in front of him. "No. Everything's OK, Zordon. We'll…we'll get you back inside your tube, everything's going to be OK." He shook his head again, voice quaking. "You're not going to leave us."

"Rangers, the zords, the power, the weapons…they've all been destroyed," Zordon continued. "The Power Rangers are no more. Be strong, rangers."

There was the sound of metal scraping against metal behind them and the rangers turned and spotted Alpha pulling himself up. Bailey backed away from her sister and looked up at her before hurrying over to the animatronic robot, the other rangers behind her. She grabbed onto Alpha and helped him up, giving him a hug as she did so. "Alpha, you're alright," she said to him, her accent thick with unshed tears. "But Zordon…I'm sorry, mate." Tears fell silently down her cheeks. "I tried to keep Ivan from attacking him…I just couldn't…"

"You did your best, Bailey." Alpha gently patted his friend on the back. "That's all I could've asked for." He then addressed the rest of the rangers, "There may be a power that can save Zordon. It'll be difficult, but…I think you are the ones that can find it."

"What power?" Tommy immediately leapt on Alpha's closing words. They weren't going to give up, not on Zordon's behalf, not on their zords' behalf.

"There is a distant planet…named Phaedos," Alpha explained. "It is rumored that the great power is there. But it is very dangerous. You won't have much time; Zordon's power won't last long. And…you'll have to take something with you." He turned to Bailey and nodded.

Bailey nodded back and hurried over towards the side of the Command Center. She took a deep breath and laid her hand on the wall, the panel opened and she disappeared inside, coming back with the Azurite Healiodore. It glowed in her hands as she walked over to the rangers.

"The Healiodore?" Billy repeated. He looked over at Alpha for confirmation.

"Yes," he said. "The Azurite Healiodore is from the planet of Phaedos. It took a long time…but Zordon and I had managed to run enough scans to pinpoint its origins. I believe it may be connected to the power that can be found there."

"But what if it's not there?" Aisha lowered her gaze once the question was out of her mouth. After everything…she was already starting to question it when they should've been going straight for positivity and hope in adversary.

"We just have to believe it's there," Kimberly spoke up. The pink ranger crossed her arms, hugging herself. "We need to believe it for Zordon, for Angel Grove, and for the Earth."

"Here's a map." Alpha held out his hand and a map appeared in his hands. He turned and handed it towards Zordon. "This is a map of the Desert of Despair. You'll have to get through that to find the power. There is someone you will meet there that will help you on your quest. Be sure to keep it safe with the Healiodore." He looked meaningfully at the rangers. "But without your powers, I'm afraid…"

"Don't worry, Alpha." Bailey hugged the robot. "We're afraid too."

Alpha nodded. "I'll be able to pull up the coordinates of Phaedos and teleport you there due to the transport core, but there isn't enough power to bring you back, I'm afraid."

Rocky nodded along with the others. He tightened his hand, looking down at the shard of Zordon's tube he had grabbed onto. He turned away from the rangers, turning his back to him. Glancing over at Zordon and at the destruction of the Command Center, the red ranger felt nothing but heaviness in his heart.

A painful heaviness.

Taking in a deep breath, he picked up the shard and pressed it to his left wrist, carefully dragging the shard down, until blood seeped from the cut and rolled down into his elbow. He did the motion twice before he relaxed, the pain washing away. Turning back to his friends, he dropped the shard into his pocket. Just in case he needed it again.

"Are you ready?" Alpha asked the rangers.

"Yeah." Tommy motioned to the rangers and they started to move into a position where they would have space to teleport. He noticed that the purple ranger didn't move with them. "Bay?"

The purple ranger glanced over at Zordon, taking a deep breath. "I was the last line of defense of Zordon and Alpha when Ivan came through and I couldn't stop him," she explained. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left and something else happened." She held her chin up high. "I'm going to stay here and help Alpha, maybe there's something we can do down here. But this time…I won't fail."

Avalon glanced at her sister with a sense of newfound respect. Though knowing that even when her sister turned twenty-five and was living on her own, she'd still worry about her. But she wasn't worried now. Bailey could take care of herself and she knew that her little sister could do it. Giving her a small smile, the orange ranger nodded.

Bailey nodded back and walked forward, pressing the Azurite Healiodore into Kimberly's hands then turned to her sister. "Stay safe, Goober."

The corner of Avalon's lips lifted upwards. "You too, Booger."

Bailey smiled and stepped back, nodding.

Tommy nodded at her as well. "We may not have our powers," he said. "But we're still the power rangers." With that, the rangers then moved into position in a circle. Tommy, Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Billy, and Avalon all stood in the circle then slowly raised their hands, pressing their palms against each other.

Alpha turned back to the control panel beside him. "Remember, Zordon doesn't have much time. I believe in you."

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel and after flickering for a few moments, the rangers finally turned into streaks of their respective colors and teleported from the Command Center.

It had used up some of the last of the power of the Command Center, lights shutting off as soon as they left. Bailey gasped and looked over towards Zordon, squinting in the dim light. He still appeared to be breathing.

"Oh no," Alpha said quietly, bringing his hands up to his face. "Ay yi yi yi yi." The purple ranger walked over to the robot and gently grabbed his arm, directing him over to his friend. The two slowly walked over to sit vigil at his side.

"Please hold on, Zordon," Alpha called to his fallen friend.


	4. Changing Leadership

**Chapter 04**

_Changing Leadership_

* * *

"Yes, now that we have the rangers out of the way, we can go on to destroy the rest of the earth," Zedd crowed with glee. He spun his z-staff in his hand, using the other to tap himself on the chin. "Now how to do it? Going with the approach of blowing everything up unless they agree to fall under our control seems to be a bit forthcoming."

"I say show them that we mean business," Rita pointed out. She turned towards a tiny meteor that passed by the Lunar Palace and lifted her magic wand. A bolt of energy shot out and crashed into the meteor, immediately causing it to implode. "That sounds good to me!" She turned to face Zedd as well. "You said that you wanted to furnish the rest of the Lunar Palace, why not go down to Earth now and get some captives? We can get Rito to skin them alive for us; he probably needs the practice anyway."

"No, after the work he, Goldar, and Scorpina did against the rangers, they deserve some time off," Zedd said. He put down his Z-Sceptar and started to stretch his arms. "I can do the skinning all by myself." He laughed evilly, only turning when he heard the doors at the back of the palace opened and Ivan walked in followed by Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito, who were all grinning ear from ear.

Ivan was the only one that wasn't congratulating himself. Instead, he held out his arms and smiled at Rita and Zedd before proclaiming, "Honey, I'm home." He then lowered his arms and crossed the threshold. "Sorry, Zedd, I keep forgetting she's your wife," he remarked. "Might want to hold onto her, someone might mistake her for one of your concubines."

Zedd growled, his body starting to light up. "I think you're forgetting that you let the rangers go!" He pointed the scepter towards the man. "You may have destroyed their powers, but now who knows what else they're going to do!"

"Clearly you have no faith in your partner," Ivan commented, not disturbed by Zedd's words in the slightest. In fact, he appeared bored. The whole thing was boring, he noted to himself. Making work of the rangers was just too easy, after all those years Zordon should've been able to come up with something that could stand up to him. And yet, it was no wonder Rita and Zedd were continuously defeated so easily. They were as weak as a newborn babe. They didn't know real power. "Your feebleness is staggering."

Stretching his arms over his head, Ivan slowly walked over towards Rita and Zedd with a sort of swagger in his step, a sense that he was powerful and definitely knew it. "You obviously don't know destruction when you see it," he remarked. He came to a stop in front of Zedd and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll take over command from here."

"You dare betray me?!" Zedd growled. "You wouldn't be here if it weren't for us."

"And don't think I'm not grateful. I was waiting for the day that an incompetent imbecile would open my egg and free me!" Ivan slowly started to laugh, a raspy, gloating laugh causing Zedd to increase in brightness as the seconds passed.

"NO ONE DOUBLE CROSSES LORD ZEDD AND LIVES!" Zedd roared and shot a beam of electricity over towards Ivan. It struck the purple monster but didn't appear to have any effect. Instead, the morphological being continued to laugh as the electricity coursed through his body and lifted his hand, shooting his own electricity back towards Rita and Zedd.

With loud screams of fury and pain, Rita and Zedd fell to the ground, cringing and thrashing. Scorpina gasped in surprise, hand moving to cover her mouth. Her eyes widened as she watched her fallen Master and Mistress continue to be exhibited with the powers of destruction that Ivan had used on the Command Center. Zedd, having dropped his z-scepter, reached out for it, to try and block the attack and protect himself and his wife, but Ivan kicked it away, continuing to hold the energy over the prince of darkness and evil space with.

"Hey! You can't hurt my sister like that!" Rito declared with a deep, guttural yell from within his chest. He brought a hand up to his eyes and shot out a beam of red energy towards Ivan. However, Ivan raised his free hand and deflected the attack onto Rita and Zedd, causing them to scream even more.

Goldar watched the exchange in stunned silence. Zedd, rule of the Galaxies and the Prince of Darkness was being defeated so easily it was as if Ivan hadn't even used the power within that reverberated from his pinkie toe. He picked up his sword, ready to attack Ivan, but Scorpina's hand on his arm stopped him. "Scorpina?" He turned to face her.

The female golden monster's eyes were filled with the sort of darkness and evilness that Goldar had never seen before. Her eyes were dark, empty pools of nothingness and pure evil. "Don't, Goldar," she whispered to hi in a slow, sensual one. "This is exactly what we've been waiting for. With Rita and Zedd out of the way, we can follow Ivan until we find his weak point, and then take over the Lunar Palace ourselves." She tightened her hand on him, fingernails digging into his wrist like stingers from a scorpion. "Remember Sagittaria…he was in our way. They're _all_ in our way and we're not going to succeed if they don't take themselves out. It'll be easy work for us."

Goldar wrenched his hand out of Scorpina's grasp. Everything she had said before had made sense, but would it work in the long run? Was she just setting himself up to fail? He couldn't trust her as much as she could trust him, he was well aware of that. But speaking out now wasn't going to help either of them in the long run.

Ivan sighed as he continued to watch Rita and Zedd squirm. It had been so amusing to him before and now it was just getting pointless. He brought both of his hands together and zapped another wave of electrical energy towards them. There was a miniature explosion and when the dust settled, Rita and Zedd were out of his sight.

"Where'd they go?" Rito turned to Ivan, raising his sword high above his head. "If you—"

"Relax, Bonesie, I just sent them down to the dungeons with the rest of their captives," Ivan said. He gave an indolent wave of his hand, ambling over to Zedd's throne and perched himself upon it. The perfect view of Earth. "I'll bring them out to play again when I'm bored." He lifted a finger and pointed towards the three minions left under his control. "You can join them too, if you'd like."

Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina all stayed silent. The shift of power had been drawn in the sand. Ivan was in control now and if they crossed him, there was an exceptionally good chance they would end up destroyed quicker than they could take a breath to make a noise of protest.

Satisfied with the silence, Ivan stretched his arms out and rested them on the arms of the chair. "Nice place they have here, a perfect way for me to watch my destruction of Earth and the rest of the Galaxy. Now…what to do about the rangers looking for that great power."

"The great power?" Scorpina repeated her voice sounding higher pitched suddenly. Maybe it was pleading, Ivan couldn't tell. There was something off about her, he could sense it. "We just destroyed their powers."

"There's a great power lurking on the planet Phaedos that could bring the rangers more powers that could ultimately destroy us all," Ivan hissed, his voice lowering to a horrific tone. "We need to stop them before it's too late." His eyes narrowed as he watched Scorpina twitch and start to whimper, bringing her hands up to her head. "What is she doing?"

"She's part human, your liege," Goldar said simply, quickly moving to become the monster's footman. "The human side of her is well acquainted with the rangers and even has a bit of a relationship forming with the black ranger. We could use her to lure the rangers out once more, just like when Rita and Zedd had used a parent of the blue ranger to emotionally hurt him."

"And how'd that turn out?"

"We managed to turn the blue ranger evil but the rangers turned him back to normal."

Ivan tapped the side of his neck. _It has some merits,_ he realized. _Using the parents of the rangers, causing great psychological damage. It's genius!_ Ivan slowly sat up straight, eyes lighting up with an evil fire as he started to laugh to himself. "Instead of using the parents of the rangers, we'll use the parents of Earth!" He declared. "They're going to dig up my ectomorphicons and when they're done, I'll instruct the ectomorphicons to kill them anyway they please!"

"Sounds like a plan to me, boss!" Goldar agreed.

Rito grumbled but didn't say anything otherwise.

Scorpina continued to whimper, falling to her knees as she held onto her head. There were flashes of light and her whimpers turned to screams as her body switched back and forth from control of Scorpina to Sabrina and back again. As the seconds passed, Scorpina started to lose her hold.

Ivan rolled his eyes. "Oh, the theatrics!" He lifted a hand and blasted electricity over towards her. When the light faded, Scorpina and Sabrina both sat on the ground. Sabrina sucked in a deep breath and started to tremble, lifting her head and looking up towards the monsters that sat in front of her. Then she turned her head to the side and regarded Scorpina, shaking harder. "Get this wench out of my sight!" He instructed Goldar.

The gold monster nodded and grabbed Sabrina by the arm, lifting her to her feet and walking her out of the lair.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I need to be sure the rangers don't make it to the power." He cracked his knuckles and sucked back hard, allowing phlegm to gather in his throat. When the glob of mucus was big enough he leaned forward as he spit, shooting the phlegm onto the ground. Much like his Oozemen, the ooze started to puddle, stretching out until there were large birdlike creatures flapping and jumping in front of him. "Ah, my Tengu warriors," Ivan said lovingly. Crossing his legs, he placed his hands on his knees. "Go to Phaedos. Find the power rangers and make sure they don't make it to the power. Tear them apart! Peck their eyes out. Drop them off cliffs. Eat their gizzards! I don't care as long as they don't make it there or back _alive_!"

"You got it, boss!" The biggest Tengu warrior said before flapping his arms.

The other Tengu followed its lead and after gaining some momentum they turned and flew out of the Lunar Palace.

Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

The next morning, Bailey had left the house as quickly as possible, hoping that David wouldn't wake up and question where she was going. Not that it'd really be that difficult to get out; David hadn't really been there lately. The constant cloud hanging over the house and following them around. Billy had managed to grow from it…but David had lost his wife and still seemed to be walking in a daze.

That wasn't important at the moment, what was important was finding a way to keep Ivan Ooze from getting stronger than he already was. He had found a way to defeat the rangers, to deplete all of their powers and now Angel Grove was vulnerable to whatever attacks that would come their way. She needed some time to think, to see what was going on now that the rangers had left to find the new power.

But what could she do to save Zordon if she didn't have powers herself? She stayed at the Command Center as long as she could to try and find a way to restore power to the Command Center and all she could do was make it so that the Viewing Globe was able to come back online. Everything else had been dead silent, and that was eerie. Not only was the Command Center normally always functioning, but it was always making some sort of noise. The zords were usually making sounds as they played with each other, Alpha was tinkering with some sort of upgrade to the Command Center, she and Billy were working on a new invention.

Something was _always_ going on and it was eerie, downright terrifying now that there was no sound other that her breath, Alpha's footsteps, and Zordon's raspy breathing that filled the air. She couldn't stand being there any longer.

As the purple ranger left her house and headed into the city, she ran through a bunch of scenarios in her head, to try and figure out what to do to help. She needed to find a way to keep Zordon stabilized, Alpha was working on that now, but there had to be something that could be done on Earth in Angel Grove. Ivan, Rita, and Zedd were going to do something that would bring the utmost terror and destruction to the city now that they were abandoned, she knew that for sure.

 _But who can help me?_ After wandering around for about twenty minutes, Bailey found herself at the Youth Center. She laughed quietly to herself. It was funny how the one place of comfort that she could think of was going to the Youth Center. She, her sister, and their friends always went there to hang out and she, in a way, hoped they would be there waiting for her with bright smiles and laughter. Maybe her greatest nightmare wouldn't have come true.

But as she sat down at the counter, ready to ask the man behind the bar for a drink—she noticed that Ernie wasn't there that day—her attention was brought over to the tiny television that sat in the corner. It was broadcasting from the construction site and she could see Ivan's egg in the background. Leaning forward, she turned up the volume of the television.

"And we're reporting from the construction site where the new Concord law firm was being built were a giant _egg_ has suddenly appeared overnight. We have no idea where the egg has come from but judging by the excavation area around it, it appears to have been hundreds of feet underground. Archeologists that have come to the scene haven't found specific clues that would give us a certain timeframe of when this egg had been put down there though it is implied that the monster attack last night may have something to do with it. There are no eyewitnesses to the excavation and opening of the egg and while police are questioning those that have been near the area, the Angel Grove Police Department are blocking off the construction site and are forbidding anyone from coming near it in fear of contaminating the scene."

 _That's it!_ Bailey immediately leapt to her feet as soon as the broadcast was over and hurried out of the Youth Center. All she had to do was go down to the construction site, get a sample of Ivan's Ooze if there was any left there or from the Oozeman and work from there. Then she could get the material properties and work from there, to figure out if there was a way to reverse Ivan's magic and destruction of the Command Center. _Maybe this'll be the thing that'll help Zordon!_ Once she was outside of the Youth Center she brought her communicator up and pressed a button on the side, waiting for that familiar prickling, tingly feeling of teleporting.

She slapped her hands over her face, remember what had happened. "Oh, come on!" She cried before starting to run down the street. "Its times like these I forget how bloody helpful teleporting is," she said to herself.

Finally arriving at the construction site, the purple ranger quickly ducked underneath police tape and hid behind a rock. There were more people milling around than she originally thought there would be. Breathing quietly, hoping not to be found, she stealthily crouched around boulders and large rocks, slowly moving closer to the egg that Ivan had been in. Finally, when the coast was clear, she hurried over and looked down into the chamber. There was still a bit of ooze left at the bottom of the egg, now if only she could get it—

"Hey!"

A hand roughly grabbed onto her arm and she was roughly pulled to her feet. An older man with a graying mustache glared at her, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her. "What are you doing here?" He demanded. "How did you get past the police tape?"

"I-I'm just looking," Bailey stammered, eyes wide. "I just wanted to see what was—"

"You're contaminating the scene! Messing up the evidence." He let go of her arm and pulled a walkie-talkie out of his belt. "This place is dangerous and kids like you shouldn't be trespassing here! I have the right mind to call the—"

"Sergeant," a familiar voice sounded behind her. "We'll take it from here." The Sergeant and Bailey turned and spotted Bulk and Skull standing behind them, dressed in their police uniforms, hands resting on the tops of their belts. Bailey smiled at them gratefully and waited as the Sergeant looked them over before letting her go. The three waited until she walked away before Skull took her arm and walked her a few feet away.

"Bailey, what are you doing here?" He asked her. "The Sarge is right, it's too dangerous."

"For me or for the citizens of Angel Grove?" She replied. Bulk and Skull exchanged a glance. "I need your blokes' help," she said to them. "That egg released a hideous, disastrous monster that's going to destroy the world, Ivan Ooze." She gestured over towards the egg.

"Was that the cause of the fight last night?" Bulk asked. He lowered his voice before leaning towards her. "We saw the zords go down…found some scraps of their metal around the place. What happened out there?"

Taking a deep breath, Bailey steeled her voice. "It was bad," she admitted. "He was a lot stronger than we originally thought. He…he destroyed our zords, our powers are _gone_." She knew the words had the impact she thought it would for she felt herself choking up once more, as well as seeing Bulk and Skull's eyes widen. "Angel Grove and the rest of the Earth…it's in danger unless we can find a way to get rid of him and that's what I need the egg for, yeah? There's still ooze inside and if I can get a sample of that ooze, then I can find a way to find out how to defeat him while the others get us our powers back."

Bulk cleared his throat. "What do you need us to do? There are too many people around right now."

"If you get chance, get a sample for me, or find _something_ that you think will help." Bailey clasped her hands together. "I need your guys' help, guys. You can really help us save Angel Grove."

Skull's jaw clenched in an expression of straight seriousness. Everything up until then had been child's play in comparison to what the rangers did each and every day. They protected and saved as many people as they could over the years and in the times they hadn't succeeded, they still did their best. Having gone into the police academy and hoping to graduate from it soon, he understood the duty they had to protect and serve Angel Grove. They made the promise to do what they could once they were accepted under the guide of Lt. Stone and they weren't going to let anyone done.

"Leave it to us," he said to her. "We'll get that sample for you." He nodded over and Bulk and the two showed the purple ranger to the exit of the construction site before going back to their jobs. Bailey watched them leave, her heart pumping a mile a minute.

"Bonzer!" Bailey whispered.

Now that she was going to get a sample, she had to figure out what to do when it came to defending the city. _A police force wont' do much unless there are putties and Oozemen around. If there's a large scale attack, we wouldn't be able to do much but hide._

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Fred calling her until he grabbed a hold of her arm and turned her around. Stumbling, Bailey caught her balance before scowling at him. She had been grabbed a lot that day and she wasn't going to allow it to happen anymore. "What?" She snapped at him.

Fred dropped his arm, surprised. "Sorry," he apologized to her. "I was calling your name; I guess you didn't hear me." He scratched the back of his head as silence stretched between the two of them.

"Did you want something?" Bailey pressed.

"Yeah." Now Fred looked confused if not a little hurt. "Where'd you go yesterday? We were hanging out at the carnival and everything and all of a sudden you disappeared. Dad and I waited for a long time but you never came back. Did something happen?"

 _Yeah, something happened all right. But it's not like you'd understand._ Instead of saying that, Bailey just shrugged. "No, nothing happened. I just wasn't feeling well so I went home." She looked over her shoulder. "Actually, I'm still not feeling well so I'm just going to—"

"Did I do something wrong?" Fred asked. "Because…all you do now, whenever we hang out is make some sort of excuse to leave!" He frowned as Bailey looked back at him as innocently as she could. His brow furrowed together in an expression of extreme distaste. "If you don't want to hang out with me just say so."

"It's not that, I'm just…really busy."

"How busy can you be?"

"I have a lot of work to do. Not only my own school work but I have things that I'm studying, trying to invent. I'm talking to my Mom as often as I can and with the time difference I can't miss that. It's not you, Fred. I'm just…I'm just really busy."

"I don't believe that."

Uttering a cry of annoyance, Bailey turned on her heel and started to stomp down the road. She swung her arms haphazardly as she went. "You can believe what you want. But I have somewhere I need to be, yeah?"

Fred followed her, matching her stride until he was walking along with her at the same pace. "There's something you're hiding. Why won't you talk to me?" When the purple ranger didn't reply he stepped in her path and held out a hand. He didn't grab her that time. That was good. Or else he would've received a punch to the face.

"Because!" Bailey spat, moving to step around him. She glared when Fred blocked her way and grabbed onto her shoulders.

"Because _why_?"

Bailey squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that she was either going to be making a great decision or a grave mistake. But as time passed by, nothing was more important than getting Zordon back to normal, even if that meant giving up her own powers. "Because, Fred….because I'm a power ranger!"


	5. Ready When You Are

**Chapter 05**

_Ready When You Are  
_

* * *

The destruction of the Zords had been felt all around the world. Not only had it been a great blow for the current rangers to deal with, but it had managed to stretch itself further than originally anticipated.

In Vietnam Trini had been ripped out of her peaceful slumber by something so painful she let out a startled gasp. Had something hit her? Had she been bitten by something? Trini leaned over and turned on the lamp that rested on her bedside table and pulled herself up into a sitting position. Pulling back her covers she ran her hands up and down her legs. No, there was nothing that had bitten her; but then again, she had become so used to the mosquitoes that finding bites she didn't remember having wasn't uncommon. No, this was something else, something deep within her heart.

Bringing her hand up to her chest she could feel it, she could feel the Sabertooth Tiger within her crying out for her, for its original owner. It was…dying. The realization hit Trini like a ton of bricks. She had always been able to read people's auras, to sense things about people others couldn't, so she had the closest bond with her zord, having been able to feel its soul within the first few times of having gotten inside the cockpit. And now…she could feel her soul and the one of the Sabertooth Tiger merging once more as it lost its physical body.

Within the confines of his uncle's house, Jason halted mid-sit up as he felt something akin to blinding pain move through his body. He had never felt pain like that before, not even the times he had badly sprained himself, had been beaten up in a martial arts tournament, or even managed to break his arm the one time when he was six years old. Nothing could compare to the pain of a ranger losing their zord. He could hear it, in his head, the Tyrannosaurus zord crying out for him. Instead of the majestic, horror inducing cry that a tyrannosaurus could bring, he heard sadness and fear in the cry of the tyrannosaurs zord. Jason slowly lowered his hands from around his ears and pressed them against the floor. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head forward and silently mourned the loss of a friend.

Zack had been practicing his dance moves when he heard the cry of the Mastodon. Anything that would distract him from the way he had been run out of Angel Grove, to the way he was currently living and dancing did that. While his father still wasn't completely over the idea of Zack playing football, which he would be starting at his new school the next week, but he couldn't rip dancing out of him. Just like the Mastodon couldn't be ripped out of him. The Mastodon had protected him and the rest of Angel Grove for the years he had put into being a ranger and rather than thinking of it as a Zord or a pet, he thought of him as a friend. And it hurt like losing a friend, the sudden pain, the sound of the cry causing Zack to immediately stop the pirouette he had been going through. As if not sure he had heard the cry, he lowered his headphones from his ears and listened hard. There it was again, the weak cry of the Mastodon and despite not having been connected to the zord in a long time; Zack knew it was saying goodbye. With a small smile, Zack lifted his headphones back over his ears and started dancing again, this time for his friend.

And despite the three not having their powers anymore and being separated by miles, they then knew there was truth to the claim; once a ranger, always a ranger.

* * *

"You're a Power Ranger?" Fred repeated, with a flat tone to his voice.

Nothing that showed surprise or excitement registered on his face. In fact, his facial expression hadn't changed. It was like a brick wall; Bailey wasn't getting much of an idea of what he was thinking. It was unnerving a bit, compared to the bright mile and sense of outwardly excitement he usually executed, much like a teenage boy usually would.

"I was," Bailey admitted. "As of late my powers have become obsolete. That monster fight…" she trailed off and Fred nodded, patiently waiting for her to continue. "It was against an intergalactic being called Ivan Ooze. He's stronger…much stronger than anyone we've ever come up against. It was him, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina…they all attacked us and our zords couldn't hold the power. They destroyed our powers and now the others have traveled to a distant planet to try and find a way to get them back before Ivan comes down and takes over the world."

Fred slowly nodded, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened intently to what she had said. Then he had reached up a hand and rubbed it over his mouth, eyes shifting to the side. "So if you're a ranger that means…Av and them…they're rangers too?" Bailey nodded. Then his eyebrows contorted into an expression of confusion. "So what do Bulk and Skull have anything to do with it?"

Bailey took another deep breath. "They know we're rangers, too," she explained. "Apart from their constant search to try and figure out who the power rangers were, before Av and I had gotten our powers, they found out the night that Av was in the hospital when she was shot. I reckon they saw her power morpher at some point, because we have to have them on us at all times, just in case something comes up."

Fred nodded once more. He was silent for a long time, turning away from her. Lifting his hat off his head, he ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. Bailey's mouth twisted to the side as she watched him, lightly kicking at the ground. Had she made a mistake? If everything was back to normal, if Zordon didn't lie dying in the Command Center, he probably would've summoned Fred to the Command Center to swear him to secrecy. Her theory being that Lt. Stone, Bulk, and Skull being part of law enforcement keeping them from having to been sworn as well, considering they were well aware of confidentiality within their own jobs. Now, she wasn't sure what was going to happen?

Would he believe her?

Would he say she was crazy?

Still think she was just trying to avoid him and made up a story that would be the easiest to explain? Otherwise, why would someone admit they were a Power Ranger when there would be too much at stake if people did know?

Finally, Fred turned back to her, placing his hat back on his head. "What do you need me to do?" He asked her.

Bailey's body moved on its own, her eyes widened and breath catching in her throat, before the weight of his words lay on her. "Really?" She was wary. Not that she didn't trust Fred, she always trusted people in her life, but and at some point or another she found that her trust was betrayed in a way.

"Really."

Bailey let out a squeal of happiness and grabbed onto the sides of Fred's face and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're a legend! C'mon!" She turned and started to run down the street. Fred fell into step beside her as the two headed back into the city.

"Where are we going?" Fred asked her.

"Bulk and Skull are going to get me a sample from Ivan's Ooze and if I'm going to test its substances, I'll need Billy's lab. Ivan destroyed the Command Center and with little power there, Alpha says he's not going to teleport me back there unless he really needs my help."

"Alpha? Command Center?" Fred repeated.

"Sorry, I forgot, there's a lot I still have to explain. I'll get to it when I get the chance, first we need to—"

Fred threw out his arm and stopped her. He pointed over towards a large crowd of kids gathered around a guy dressed all in purple and wearing a very pointy wizard's hat. As the two watched, more and more kids raced over, standing at rapt attention. He and Bailey exchanged a confused glance. "Let's go see what's going on," he said and the two headed over, pushing their way to the middle of the crowd. Once they got close enough, they noticed a pile of purple jars sitting on a table next to the guy.

"Gather round, children, gather round!" The guy cried out, waving the jars. "When you have a jar of Ivan's Ooze you the fun will never end. Not only is it disgusting and something that parents would hate to look at, but it makes gross noises too." He opened up a jar and handed it over to the kid that was closest to him. "Try it out, see how it feels."

Bailey gasped quietly. "Ivan!" She hissed to Fred. He silently nodded.

"What are you supposed to do with it?" A kid called.

"How many times have you ever wanted to go against your parents' wishes? They always have something to say, something that you're not allowed doing. Well, this is something you _are_ allowed to do. And if they say 'no' and try to take it away, just throw it at them! It's harmless!" He turned to the stack that was next to him and started to pass out the jars.

"Go grab one," Bailey murmured to Fred, nudging him in the side.

Fred gave her a curious glance. "Why don't you do it?"

"I was unmorphed when I first saw him, he'll know it's me," Bailey whispered back. "He might try to do something or target me or something. He _knows_ I don't have my powers and I can't risk him targeting me so soon. Besides that ooze he's giving away might have something that I can sample from too." She reached out and pushed him forward.

Fred rolled his eyes and waited in the line that had formed. Once he got to the front, he glanced over at Ivan, taking the bottle that was handed to him. His eyes widened when he got a good look at Ivan, his black eyes alight with an evil fire. There was a menacing air around him and as Fred continued to stare, Ivan's jovial smile dropped and he scowled at the capped young boy.

"What are you looking at?" He snarled. "Take a picture, it'd last longer!"

Fred's eyes widened and he took a step back. Clutching the jar in his hand, he turned and went back to Bailey, glancing over the cover that was put on the jar. "Looks to me like some ordinary gak stuff that they sell in the toy store," he said and handed it over to Bailey.

"You'd think that but who knows what could be in here," the purple ranger reminded him. She moved her lower jaw to the side and took the bottle. Opening it, she sniffed at the stuff before shaking the jar to check its consistency. "Huh, smells fine and it appears to have natural components." She replaced the cap. "Either way, I'll have to see if there's anything that correlates between this and the sample that Bulk and Skull are going to get me. We should start heading over there."

"OK, but let's stop at my house first," he suggested. "I have some stuff that can help."

"Got it." Bailey pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "And I'll call Bulk and Skull and get them to meet over at my house."

* * *

When the rangers landed on Phaedos, they were surprised at how beautiful Phaedos looked. Not only were there Oceanside bluffs and rocks, but the air was warm and lightly tinged with the taste of salt, much like Angel Grove. It being a distant planet, they at least expected there to be some sort of danger that'd befall them as soon as they arrived.

"Wow," Kimberly gasped, looking around. She shifted the precious gem in her hands, careful not to drop it amongst the rocky ground. "It's like…being at the ocean."

"You can say that again," Billy remarked, stepping aside. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder and leaned over; shaking off his feet as when the rangers had teleported to the planet he had landed in a puddle. "The costal climate is much like Angel Grove; surprisingly there isn't anything toxic in the air or something that would suffocate us."

"That's great imagery Billy, thanks," Rocky said, hands on his hips as he looked around. "So now that we're here…how are we supposed to find this great power? And what do we do with the Healiodore once we get there?"

"First we'll have to figure out where we're going," Adam reminded him. He turned to Billy, who had pulled out the map and started to examine it, twisting it this way and that. "Have you got anything?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted after a minute. "We're supposed to move through the Desert of Despair, but from the looks of it, it's not a Desert anymore. But conferring the map, I think we're supposed to be looking for a distinct rock formation."

"How distinct is distinct?" Tommy asked, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Yeah and how come it's not anything as easy as 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road?" Avalon added. The air was suddenly pierced by the sound of a woman's wailing, causing the rangers to slap their hands over their ears. When it faded, they slowly pulled their hand away, lest there was another bout of the screeching.

"Geez Av, I thought you were a better singer than that," Rocky commented, causing the orange ranger to scowl and slap him on the arm. Rubbing the tender spot, he looked around, suddenly concerned. "Hey, where's Aisha?"

"You guys!" The yellow ranger's voice suddenly drifted over to them from behind a large rock. "Over here! You have to see what I found!" The rangers all turned and quickly hurried towards the yellow ranger. As they approached they found Aisha kneeling beside a horned like creature, its skin completely gone and only its skeleton in its place.

"What is it?" Adam murmured, eyes wide.

Billy moved close and examined the skeleton. It didn't look like any animal they had ever seen before. The way its jaws protruded and had horns twisting off the top of the head. "I think it may have been some sort of humanoid creature that resided on the planet," he said after a minute.

"Better question is, did it die by natural causes or was there some sort of a bigger thing that got to it?" Avalon pointed out. She crouched by the top of the skeleton, arms wrapped around her knees. She shrugged. "The way it's pointed…seems like it was trying to get away from something before it fell."

"You might be right," Billy agreed.

"Well, now that we have that very creepy thought, I think we should get going," Kimberly said. "I don't want whatever had managed to get that to get us, too." She turned and started to go, but stopped, noticing a shiny object on the ground. "Hey guys," she said. "Check this out." Carefully putting the Healiodore into her pocket, she reached out and picked up the object. Smoothing her hands over it, she studied it for a few moments, noticing as the seconds passed, the warmth that radiated from it to her hands.

As the seconds passed, the warmth continued to increase until there was an unbearable pain searing through her hands. With a startled cry, she quickly dropped the object and backed up. "Wow, that's really hot!" She waved off her hands.

All of a sudden, the ground in front of the rangers burst into flames. Tommy quickly threw out his arms, holding his friends back behind him as the flames started to rise in front of them. His eyes scanned the area in front of him, looking for a way out, but a sudden explosion behind him caused his flight response to kick in and he, Rocky, and Aisha leapt over the flames in front of them and out of harm's way. Turning back, they spotted Kimberly, Billy, Adam, and Avalon still behind the continually rising wall of flames, looking for an out.

"Quick!" He called towards them. "Jump before it's too late!"

Adam glanced at his friends, backed up, and did a twisting jump over the flames. He crashed into Rocky and the red ranger helped him back up to his feet. Billy grabbed onto Kimberly and Avalon and pushed them towards the side that had the lesser amount of flames. "Hurry!" He cried to them. Kimberly did a tumbling jump over the flames, caught by Tommy once she was clear and Avalon took a step back before doing a standing front flip over the flames. Billy was the last to go; he threw himself away from the rocks behind him as there was another explosion and he crashed to the ground, rolling aside.

It wasn't until he was heaved back to his feet that he noticed the missing map. Patting his hands along his thighs, the realization struck him. He whipped his head back towards the wall of fire and watched as the parchment started to burn.

"Oh no!" He cried, starting forward. "The map!"

"Billy, no!" Tommy called, grabbing onto the blue ranger before he could leap onto the flames. He then noticed movement out of the corner of his eye just in time to see Avalon diving towards the flames and snatch up the map before rolling aside. She let out a loud shriek and dropped the map, the remnants turning into dust. "Av. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth, hands shaking. She lowered her head. "I just wanted to get the map. We're not going to find the power or help Zordon if we don't get it."

"And we're not going to get it if you kill yourself," Tommy said firmly. He reached out and grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her to her feet. The others gathered around the orange ranger as Tommy turned her hand over. He winced at the look of her burn. "It doesn't look too bad."

"It's a just first degree burn," Billy agreed, taking her hand and looking over it herself. "It'll be fine once we get some antibiotics or something of the sort, but for the time being we'll just douse it in water." He reached up and ripped the bottom of his shirt until he had a strip to use for a bandage. He kneeled down and dunked it into a puddle of water before placing it on her palm and started to wrap it around her palm. "It'll have to do for now."

"Mm, saves me from another scar," the orange ranger said dismissively. She flexed her fingers, wincing once more as pain shot through her hand. "Thanks, Smurf." She lightly started to pick at the bandage and he swatted her hand away.

"Are you sure you're OK?" Tommy pressed.

"Of course." She lowered her hands. "Worrying about me isn't going to help Zordon. We have to keep going." The white ranger nodded and the group started walking inland once more as Billy had put it, if there was a rock formation they were looking for, there was a better chance of it being inland as there was more of a chance of natural rock slides and vegetation to have created it.

Adam trailed behind his friends, deciding to bring up the rear in case something was to attack them with Tommy at the front and the girls placed in between the guys. Frowning, he watched as Kimberly gently swayed in her step, teetering to catch her balance each time they jumped from rock to rock. It wasn't until one of the last few jumps that she suddenly brought a hand to her head, stumbling more than she had moments before. The black ranger quickly reached out and grabbed onto her arm, steadying her. He straightened her, speaking up as the group continued forward, but lowering his voice so no one would hear their conversation.

"Kim, are you OK?" He pressed.

She gave him a fleeting smile, dropping her hand. "Yeah," she said as cheerfully as possible. "Yeah, I'm fine." She ran a hand through her hair. "I was just dizzy for a minute, there. I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" He pressed.

"Yeah, Adam, I'm fine." She reached up and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about me, we have to think about Zordon and restring our powers and the Command Center." She started to move away from him and once again, stumbled. "Whoa."

Adam helped her up once more and looked over towards their friends; none of them had noticed that they were stopped. It filled the black ranger with a bit of confidence; at least it brought a better chance for the pink ranger to open up to him. Being the quietest of the rangers he observed a lot and noticed their habits more than they probably thought they did. And for the past couple of months, he couldn't help but notice how hard Kimberly had been working; not only did she go to gymnastics practices as much as she could, but she was in the Youth Center, working out with him, Rocky, Billy, or Tommy whenever she got the chance, if not working on her own. Even then he had noticed the gain of her muscles, but he also couldn't help but notice how much smaller she was getting.

Her face was a bit thinner than usual, cheekbones poking out more than they had before, skin stretching around her mouth whenever she smiled, her ribs poked out a bit more, her wrists appeared sharper than normal, and not only that but there wasn't as much light in her eyes as there used to be. She appeared to be more tired, listless than usual and while she always managed to get back the energy that made the pink ranger the pink ranger, it took longer than normal.

"Kim…you know, if there's anything you ever want to talk about, you can come to me," he said to her. Kimberly glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He could feel her trembling underneath his hands. "I won't pressure you to do it; I guess I'm just worried. I know things are getting better with your mother but if there's anything else going on," he looked harder at her, expression turning stern, "then you can talk to me, no questions asked."

Kimberly turned and faced him fully. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a shaky breath, bringing her hands up to her hair. "I…it's really weird, Adam," she said slowly. "Everything that happened between me and my Mom, and then Billy's mother, and now Zordon and Alpha…sometimes I don't know what to do anymore. It's, like, everyone around me is starting to fall apart and…and I don't know if things will ever go back to normal."

"As normal as fighting a monster made of ooze?" He lightly teased and laughed as Kimberly rolled her eyes, though she was smiling as well.

"Yeah, I guess our life hasn't been that normal," she agreed then turned to him. "What about you? How are you doing? With Zordon…Sabrina…Scorpina…?"

Now Adam let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair. He didn't know it but that had been what Kimberly had planned as soon as Adam had started asking her questions. To turn the attention back to him, taking it off of her. She felt guilty for lying for him, she really did, but he couldn't know what she was doing. Things were fine; she wasn't taking things too far, just doing what she had to do to get stronger. She needed to be strong for Zordon and Alpha and the others now, while they looked for the great power.

"It's hard," he agreed with her. "I never thought I'd be a part of everything like this…to have so much responsibility to make such great friends through something like this. Now that it's been taken away…I can't even imagine going back."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

"Everything's going to be OK, Kim," Adam said to her. "I promise."

She smiled at him.

The group continued to walk along the never ending coastal area. Soon, Tommy called for them to stop, stating that they were all going to need some rest. "We're not going to be at our best if we keep moving like this."

Billy shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "I think we should keep going," he contradicted. "Not only are we out here in the open where anything can attack us, but we need to see if this temperate area ends. Maybe find some food."

Tommy thought about it for a long moment. He took a lot of stock into what the blue ranger had to say, having become the leader of the rangers and after Jason having left, he felt of the blue ranger as his second in command, the one that he could go to if he was questioning his decisions. He could see the point that Billy was saying, but it was different. The white ranger had the responsibility of protection all of the rangers and was the one that had to make the tough decisions when the time came. _Like the zords._

Biting his lip, Tommy gently closed his eyes. Due to the intense emotions of having lost the zords and then going back to find that they lost their powers as well as potentially lost Zordon, it wasn't until then that Tommy realized the brevity of the situation. _He_ had been the one that shouted the order to fight as long as they could and _he_ was the reason the zords had been destroyed, thus allowing Ivan to take easy pickings of the Command Center. _How can I continue to lead like this?_ He sucked in a deep breath and put on a brave face.

"I get what you're saying, Billy," he said gently. "But right now, if we don't get some rest, we might not be able to make it to the place that'll give us some shelter and food. It'll only be for a couple of minutes and then we can get going again." He nodded at the blue ranger. "We have a job to do and it's not going to help anyone if we don't regain our strength."

The blue ranger blew out a long breath and nodded at the white ranger. He gently patted the leader before going over to a large rock and sitting down, stretching his legs out in front of him.

Tommy turned, running a hand over his ponytail and watched as his friends all moved to sit down and take a break. They were all following his lead, he needed to be sure he could still lead them; the guilt had to be dealt with when there was a time to deal with it. Right now they had to focus on Zordon.

"Tommy looks pretty bad," Aisha murmured as she sat on a rock next to Rocky. The red ranger crossed his arms and looked over at their leader.

"He looks OK to me," he remarked, absentmindedly scratching at the inside of his arm. "I mean…I guess we're all dealing with Zordon in our own ways, but…he, Billy, and Kim have known Zordon a lot longer than we have. He's probably really upset over what happened but doesn't want to show it."

"I guess," Aisha agreed with a sigh. She watched as Kimberly broke away from Adam's side and hurried over to her boyfriend. "I hope she can get him to talk, bottling everything up doesn't help anyone, you know?" Rocky made a mumbling sound and nodded. Aisha glanced over at her best friend, eyes narrowed, then looked down, noticing Rocky continued to absentmindedly rub at his arm. "Are you OK, Rock?"

"Huh?" Rocky's head snapped down and he noticed his movement. His eyes immediately jumped to the red line that was drawn across his skin, itchy and crusted over with dried blood, and pressed his wrist against his side. "Yeah, 'Sha, I'm just…wondering what's gonna happen next, I guess."

"Weren't you the one that was so ready to go and come out here?"

"Yeah but still…what if the power _doesn't_ exist? Then we came out here for nothing. We're going on blind faith."

"And that's all we have and all we can hope to have if we're going to help Zordon and we _are_ going to help Zordon," Aisha said firmly. "You just have to believe we can."

"I _do_ ," Rocky insisted. "But that can only get us so far against a guy like Ivan."

"Yeah…"

Avalon knelt down by a pool of water and started to gently splash water over the bandage that was around her hand. Her eyes moved down towards the lightning bolt tattoo she had gotten shortly before Billy's mother's funeral. Not only was it a way to remind herself that she was strong now, that she was better without the Vipers, but it reminded her of what she was working for, who she was working with. The friends she had made through the power rangers would help her through whatever happened to fall upon her and she would do the same for them.

But now, it was Zordon that had gotten caught in the crossfire and they couldn't help him. It was a terrible feeling, she hated feeling so weak and that's what had caused her to leap towards the flames for that map when she knew it was a bad idea. It was the instincts that had been engrained into her for the past couple of years, the fight instinct from having been in the Vipers had caused problems with her being a power ranger at points. She could be stubborn in many aspects and not allowing anyone else to take the pain that she felt wasn't deserved was one of them. Though she could admit another one of her bad habits was not thinking before she did something.

"How's your hand, Ava?"

The orange ranger looked up as Billy knelt down beside her, resting his arms on his legs. She gave him a gentle smile, stretching her fingers. "As good as can be expected, yeah?" She chuckled. "It's ironic; considering I used to be able to control fire and now I get burned."

"Well, it's not so much that you got burned rather than it fought back for once," Billy said, causing her to laugh a little bit. He held out his hand and Avalon stretched hers out into his. He gently unraveled the bandage and dunked it into the water before gently blowing on her palm and replacing it. "Though in the end, no one can win against fire."

"Is there something you want to say or are you just trying to sound smart?"

Billy's mouth lifted in the corner then he gave her a serious look. "You need to stop allowing your emotions to get in the way of being a ranger. It's not the first time you've dove head first into something because you allow your anger to get in the way. Soon you're going to get someone hurt."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Avalon said shortly. She snatched her hand back and started to tie the knot to keep the bandage on with one hand.

Sighing, Billy reached out and grabbed the ends of the knot, quickly tying it. "There's something you're not telling me," he said to her. "You're my best friend, I care about you, and I can tell there's something going on."

Finally, Avalon moved her hair from her face. "I thought I was so used to having people leave me, My Mom, My Dad, my friends…and now…I don't think I can stand someone else leaving." She ducked her head, shrugging. "It sounds really selfish, yeah? And I'm probably being a boofhead but—"

"Hey." Billy tightened his grip on her hand. "We're going to find the power and we're going to save Zordon. He's not leaving any of us." She looked skeptical. "You were there for me when my Mom died and now I'm going to be there for you. We're not going to fail."

Avalon nodded, but didn't look convinced. She started to say something to Billy then stopped, gently shaking her head. Now wasn't the time.

Looking out towards the water as it crashed against the rocks in the distance, Tommy looked over when he noticed his girlfriend coming to stand beside him. She gave him a small smile and he leaned in, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, he replied. "You okay?"

"I was just thinking about Zordon," Kimberly replied. She turned to face the direction Tommy was looking in. "You know everything we've been through together. He's, like, our father, Tommy, and has been since we first met him. How can this happen?"

The white ranger placed his hand on the pink ranger's shoulder and leaned into her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "He's going to make it," he reassured her. His voice hardened with conviction. "We'll find this power, and then send that slime ball Ivan Ooze back to that sewer he crawled out of." Finally, Kimberly started to smile a little and Tommy knew he had done his job.

They had rested long enough, now it was time for them to get back on the path. "C'mon." The two turned to join their friends but found a Tengu flying straight at them. Startled, Kimberly let out a loud scream and grabbed onto her shoulder, pulling the two down, ducking out of the way as the Tengu flew over head.

"Whoa!" Tommy could feel the draft of the Tengu's wings as it soared overhead. "What the heck was that?"

The other rangers whirled around at the sound of Kimberly's scream and moved out of the way as Tengu continued to fly towards them, nearly knocking them off their perches. The Tengu that had initially gone after Tommy and Kimberly circled back around and headed towards the two rangers once more and they turned, flipping off the rocks before they could get hit, joining the other rangers.

They watched as the Tengu continued to fly around, circling them like buzzards going after prey. "What are those things?" Aisha asked. She ducked out of the way as another Tengu headed her way.

The Tengu continued to circle around the rangers before landing, knocking Adam and Billy off their feet and onto their backs, the others landing around the rangers, causing them to immediately lash out and start attacking.

Fighting the Tengu was harder than the rangers anticipated. Not only were they big and had wide wingspans, but they were strong. No matter how many kicks or punches or throws knocked the Tengu back, the birdlike monsters immediately came back and attacked them once more. Rocky let out a started cry when a Tengu shot its head forward and pecked at his chest. Reaching up to his wound, he found a cut that was starting to bleed. A startled shriek from the orange ranger beside him let him know that she had just been pecked as well.

"What the fuck?" Avalon cried.

"I know, right," Rocky called back, amongst a flurry of feathers. "Whoever created these creatures pulled out all the stops."

The rangers continued to fight as hard as they could, but the Tengu were simply stronger than they were and without their powers there was no way for them to gain the upper hand against them.

"Now we got em'" The biggest Tengu cried. He flew over to Kimberly and wrapped his legs around her. The pink ranger screamed, trying to get away. "Quick, grab one and lift em' high! We're going to destroy them against these rocks!"

As the biggest Tengu started to fly high into the air, carrying Kimberly along with him, the other Tengu moved over to the rangers and grabbed them by their feet and started to lift them up off the ground as well.

"Kim, hang on!" Tommy shouted.

"Someone help!" Kimberly yelled back.

"Try to keep yourself grounded," Billy called, thrashing as hard as he could, causing the Tengu to lose his grip. He crouched low to the ground. "It'll make it harder for them to pick you up."

But the Tengu continued to grab the rangers, lifting them up into the air, going higher and higher with each stroke of their wings.

"They're too strong!" Aisha cried before a sob of despair left her mouth. She was too weak, with nothing to keep her going she dropped heavily to the ground before allowing herself to get pulled up into the air.

"We need our powers!" Adam yelled as well, twisting back and forth as he was held by the shoulders.

"Get off me you feathered freak!" Avalon shouted, bringing her good hand up and trying to knock the Tengu's claws off of her. Her legs thrashed back and forth as she was pulled up higher than the others, being lighter than them.

"Keep fighting guys!" Rocky yelled.

All of a sudden there was a loud, long roaring sound and the Tengu dropped the rangers, causing them to drop heavily to the ground. The rangers groaned as they looked up, watching as a cloaked figure appeared on top of an overhanging cliff. "What is that?" Tommy managed to ask.

The cloaked figure jumped off the cliff and flung off the cloak, revealing an ethereal looking young woman dressed in a green warrior outfit. Her long curly hair whipped in the around, framing her blue eyes. Picking up her staff, she started to attack the Tengu that came her way, fending them off with ease that was embarrassing to the rangers. Once the woman was sure she had gotten the Tengu at a safe distance, she halved her staff and started to whirl them in her hands. A high pitched squealing sound filled the air and continued to grow louder and louder the more she spun her staff with deft ease.

The Tengu squawked in pain, covering their ears with their wings before backing away. They continued to writhe in pain before turning and, taking a running start, flew away from the clearing, leaving the rangers and the warrior behind.

The rangers pulled themselves off of the ground and dusted off their clothes, taking in the damage that had befell upon them before cautiously walking over to the warrior that had saved them. Rocky slowly started to smile, taking in the outfit of the woman and reached out a hand towards her. "That was amazing he said to her in awe—though not necessarily for the way she had fought. "Thanks."

The warrior put her staff together then slapped it against the back of Rocky's hand, causing him to cower against Adam, who appeared just as affronted—if not fearful—as the red ranger.

"If you want to thank me, go back to wherever it is you came from," the warrior snapped with conviction. "Have you not realized that his place can do to you if you're not ready for it?"

The yellow ranger shook her head. "But we can't go back," she said. "We were sent here. We have to find something, to find someone."

"We were told that there is a great power here," Billy added, moving to the front of the group. He spoke diplomatically, the warrior turned her intense gaze to him, but he didn't balk under the pressure. "Is it true?"

"Yes!" She spat. "The ground is littered with the bones of the ones who have tried for it and failed." She gazed over the rangers with unmasked fury. "And if you're smart, you will leave now before you end up like them."

Tommy clenched his jaw. No. They weren't going back; they weren't going back until they found the great power and saved everyone. "Well we're different," he said. "We won't fail."

The warrior lifted her staff and knocked him onto his back before pressing the tip of the staff down onto his chest. She glared into his eyes. "I don't think you understand. You need to leave Phaedos before its too late."

Adam took a step forward, not able to watch any longer. "We don't want any trouble," he said calmly. "We were told to come here. Our leader, Zordon—"

"Zordon?" The warrior immediately recoiled, allowing the white ranger to get back to his feet. She went over to Adam and stood in front of him, looking him directly in the eyes. Adam swallowed thickly, realizing he was mesmerized by her gaze. "Did…did you say Zordon?"

"You know Zordon?" Kimberly asked.

"Who are you?" Avalon jumped in.

The warrior took a step back and placed a hand on her chest. "I am Dulcea, master warrior of the planet Phaedos. I protect this planet and those that are foolish enough to try and come for the Great Power. Though if Zordon sent you, he must hold a lot of faith."

"Then you're the one we're looking for," Adam said. He turned to his friends, who gave him an odd look. "Remember, we were to bring the Azurite Healiodore and find the one that was protecting the Great Power."

"You have the Healiodore?" Dulcea asked, her voice becoming a bit frantic. "Then things are worse than we thought. Something must've happened to Zordon."

The red ranger nodded. He, very cautiously, took a step towards the warrior. She gave him an apologetic glance and he visibly relaxed for a moment before becoming solemn once more. "Ivan Ooze attacked him and destroyed our Command Center."

At the name, Dulcea's eyes widened. "Ivan Ooze is free?!"

"You've heard of him?"

"Ivan Ooze is a monster. If we don't hurry, you're planet is doomed." She sighed. "But you have the Healiodore, which prove that you are right to take on the power. We'll need to move quickly if we're going to have any hope to save Zordon and the rest of your planet."

The rangers all exchanged a glance before following her.

They were doing it for Zordon.


	6. The Ninjetti Power

**Chapter 06**

_The Ninjetti Power_

* * *

"Do you want something to eat before going back over to your place?" Fred asked, leading Bailey into his house. He closed the door behind him, noticing his father's truck in the driveway. "I'm sure there's something left over from dinner yesterday." He brushed by the purple ranger and went into the

Bailey's right eyebrow rose as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I would if I didn't think you were doing it as a nervous habit more than actually offering it to me." She flicked her hair over her shoulders. "What are you thinking about? Me being a ranger or all of the monster battles and everything?"

"More, like, what is it that makes certain people rangers and others not?" He replied, turning from the refrigerator, scratching the side of his head. He sat down on a stool and passed the jar of Ooze back and forth between his hands. "And what Ivan could possibly need this for." He moved it closer to his face, reading the label. "I mean, it's just a jar of ooze." He opened the lid and looked inside.

Huffing, the purple ranger reached out and grabbed onto the jar of ooze, setting it aside. She then looked Fred in the eyes. "OK, I'm sorry about lying to you," she said to him. "But I really had no choice but to keep it a secret. If I hadn't, I would've lost my powers, yeah, and as dire as the situation is at the moment, it'll be different if my powers are taken because anyone can have them."

Fred's eyebrows lowered. "Really?"

"Really. It's….like the leftover power that was made and whoever gets a hold of them, good or evil, can control it. If, say, a mass murderer got a hold of my powers, then it'd be an evil ranger, but if someone who was considered good got them, then they'd be a good ranger." She shook her head. "Not that it matters much now. Our powers are gone. The others are looking for a replacement for them."

Fred nodded. He looked up at Bailey and then his eyes shifted behind him and he sat up straight, smiling. "Hi, Dad!"

Bailey turned and smiled at Mitch as he walked into the kitchen behind them. "Hi, Mr. Kelman," she greeted him.

"Hey you two, what are you doing here?" Mitch asked. He went over to the sink and prepared himself a glass of water. "I thought you'd be…doing whatever it is you'd be doing while waiting for the comet or whatever." He brought the glass up to his mouth and took a long swig of crystal clear water.

"We're going to," Fred explained. "In fact, we stopped by here to get my telescope equipment and to bring it over to Bay's place to see if we can make up a super high-powered telescope by converging the two of them together." He scratched the back of his neck, slightly wincing at the lameness of his explanation. But as far as he was concerned, his father fell for it, so at least he didn't have to focus so much about it. "Aren't you working on the construction site?"

Bailey gave him a 'duh' look.

Fred sent a scowl her way.

Mitch laughed, shaking his head. "Actually, I was scheduled to, but after that monster attack, that egg showing up, and the police sectioning off the place, I basically got some time off," he explained. "Now I'm looking for some other jobs that someone may need. I was going to check down the street to see if Miss. Johansson needed me to fix up some things over there. Since her husband passed she hasn't had much time to do it." He then noticed the jar of ooze on the counter. "What's this?"

Fred reacted immediately, jumping to his feet and trying to grab the bottle from him. "Just something I got from the toy store. It's nothing that we really need. I just thought it'd be a good gag gift." He tried to take it back, but Mitch elbowed his son out of the way.

"Relax, Fred, I just want to see it."

Bailey and Fred watched as Mitch lifted the ooze up to his face and quickly sniffed it. He recoiled before placing the jar on the counter and stuck his fingers inside, taking out some of the ooze. He started to say something, and then stopped as a bright light of electricity shot out from the ooze and covered his body.

"Dad!"

"Mr. Kelman!"

Mitch suddenly stood stock still and dropped his arms to his sides. The bottle dropped to the counter and out spilled some more ooze. Using a paper towel, Bailey quickly scooped some into a Tupperware container and clamped on the lid before turning back to Mitch. Mitch continued to stare straight ahead of him then slowly turned and walked out of the kitchen, his footsteps mimicking that of a zombie along with the speed.

"Dad?" Fred watched then followed behind his father as he left the house. Bailey scurried after him and the two raced towards the front door of the house, seconds after Mitch left. There, the two stood and watched in shock; eyes wide and mouths dropped open, as a steady stream of adults zombie-walked down the street in the same direction. "Whoa."

"Something's in the ooze," Bailey murmured. She shook her head. "I don't know what it is. But there's something in it…some sort of mind control." She snapped her fingers, trying to jog her memory. Suddenly, she gasped loudly and grabbed onto Fred's shoulders, shaking him. "That's it, mate! The ooze!"

Fred gave her a funny look. "Okay, so Ivan's Ooze is what's making them turn into zombies, how would he do that?" Then he suddenly understood. "He put part of his power, some sort of mind control power into the ooze, as this ooze is part of him. Then that means that he's got all of these adults under his spell…because their kids brought it home and either listened to what Ivan had to say and threw it at them, or they came into contact with it in some way."

"Then what is it, exactly that's doing it? And why isn't there any sort of side effect to Ivan?"

"Who says there isn't?"

Bailey chewed her lower lip. This may have been the breakthrough they were looking for. To figure out what it was that would bring some sort of a weakness to the monster that had managed to bring so much pain and suffering for the rangers. Now that they had a bit of a sample of ooze, they needed to get to the Command Center and have Alpha get started on diagnostics. But at the same time, they had to see where the adults were going, to see what it was that Ivan needed them for. It may be as grave as her gut instinct was telling her. Taking a deep breath, Bailey tightened her grip on the Tupperware.

"Let's go see where they're going," she decided. Fred nodded silently; she could see the worry in his face for his father. He was the only person he had left in his life, his mother having left them when he was young. And now he had become a sort of a pawn for an intergalactic being that couldn't care less about those that he had under his clutches. "Don't worry about your Dad, Fred, we'll figure something out."

"What about the sample?" He asked, as they two simultaneously went down from the front step and stood at eth end of the driveway and watched as adults continued to steam by them. "Don't we need to get that checked out?"

"This is more important."

The sound of sirens pierced the air and the two turned around to see a police cruiser turn onto the street and slowly pull up towards the front of the house. Bailey peered inside then spotted Bulk behind the wheel. Kull leaned over from the passenger seat as Bulk rolled down the window.

"What the heck is going on?" Skull cried. "We got that sample you asked for,"—he reached into his pocket and pulled out an evidence baggie, showing off the purple slime inside. It shook like jello inside its confines—"and now there are zombified parents all over Angel Grove!"

"It's a long story," Bailey said. She grabbed the handle to the backdoor of the police cruiser and scrambled inside, Fred following her. "Long story short, like you know, our zords are destroyed. The power of the power rangers are gone and our leader, Zordon, is dying. Not only that, but Ivan Ooze, the one that's handing out all of these ooze jars, has something inside it, a part of him maybe, that is controlling the parents. He wants them to do something that us kids couldn't but I don't know what."

"Follow them, Bulkie," Skull declared. "We need to figure out what's going on."

"And what are we supposed to do when we get there?" Bulk demanded, doing as he was told. He slowly, carefully weaved in and out of the stoic adults, following them. As they continued along the streets more and more adults converged upon the crowd, making it that denser. "In case you haven't noticed, there are no power rangers anymore. What are we supposed to do if something attacks again? What if there's a monster?"

"We're already facing a monster," Fred piped up from the backseat.

"I know that." Bulk tightened his hands on the steering wheel, clenching his jaw. "But you have to think of this realistically. Who is going to be able to stop him if you don't have your powers anymore?"

Bailey blinked at him for a minute then leaned forward, grabbing onto the steel cage that separated her from him. She tilted her head and looked at him, her face softening. "You are, mate," she said to him. "You and Skull and the rest of the police force. That's what you signed up for; you felt a sense of responsibility to protect and serve and I've watched you two under the guise of Lt. Stone and you've both come a long way. I wouldn't have asked for your help if I didn't think you could do it."

Bulk shifted in his seat, looking over Skull, who looked meaningfully back at him. That _had_ been what the pledged they'd do when they had first started in the junior police academy. And now that they were going towards the actual Police Academy, working closer towards getting that badge after having been kicked out of high school, they had more responsibility put on them. At first, he had been very skeptical of the work they'd be doing; he never thought he'd be able to amount to something that big.

Sure, he had the hope deep down, but it was hard to keep it alive when he was constantly being told he was going to amount to nothing, where the teachers for the next school year were wary of him before giving him a chance to be a student, where he had more people working against him rather than with him the longer time went on.

Bulk turned and looked at Skull, noticing he continued to watch him, waiting for his reaction. Then there was Skull the guy that had been his best friend as long as he could remember. They had been in trouble together, faced their triumphs and failures together, and always had each other's backs. He appeared to be ready for whatever they were going to face and Skull was going to need someone by his side.

"Just tell us what to do," Bulk said firmly. He sat up higher in his set, suddenly filled with determination.

"We'll let you know as soon as we figure out where these guys are going," Bailey said.

She settled back in her seat, holding the Tupperware and baggie of ooze on her lap. She let out a weary sigh, glancing down at her every silent communicator. What she wouldn't give to get in contact with her sister and friends at the moment, to let them know what was going on, to see what was going on their end. As the days went on, there was less and less time for them to figure out what was going on and less time for them to act upon their ideas.

She just hoped they were getting closer to being able to save the world one more time.

* * *

"Are we almost there?" Kimberly asked, gently swaying from side to side with each step of her throbbing feet. "I think my feet fell off a few miles ago and I'm sure this isn't good for my pedicure."

Avalon, who was usually the first one to snap at Kimberly for complaining as well as reminding her that she had feet to use to continue walking, was silent. She let out a weary sigh that matched Kimberly's statement but didn't say anything otherwise. She tilted her head back, looking out towards the starry sky, her mind wandering towards her sister. Was he doing OK? Was anything else happening in Angel Grove that they weren't there to stop? More importantly, if their father knew everything about the two of them, having watched them closely for years, having accidentally injected Avalon with the prototype of powers that were reminiscent of the power rangers; did he know what was going on in Angel Grove and what was he doing to help them?

The government had a lot more power over things than anyone would have ever thought. How else would he have managed to know every single thing about their lives since he had, in a way, walked out on them? After their conversation in Australia, where Avalon finally admitted that she was nothing short of angry at him, but at least allowed herself to forgive him for what he had done, she wondered if he still cared about her and Bailey enough to try and help their city. Anger, fiery and hot shot through her body, causing her upper lip to curl and a light growl to escape her lips. Her mind raced a mile a minute, each damning thought replaced with another one, shooting by as the seconds passed.

If she found he wasn't doing anything to help, if he hadn't known there was something he could've done... she didn't know what she'd do.

The rangers continued to follow Dulcea, their footsteps having gone from the rocky ground of the coastal area to the dense forest. Twigs snapped underneath their shoes as they continued along, their progress becoming sluggish as the sun started to go down.

"Dulcea," Billy finally called. He sounded as weary as the rest of the rangers, though did his best to hide it. "Where are you taking us?"

Dulcea turned her head, through she continued walking. Her blue eyes trained over the rangers and while she still held a stony look in her eyes, her face softened. She knew this was hard on the rangers; they were losing their mentor and great friend. She understood the kind of empowerment and motivation Zordon held for all of the rangers and now it was being taken from them. For the short amount of time she had known him, before he had mysteriously disappeared, Dulcea got to know the man as a great wizard and knew things had to be going dreadfully if his life was in the balance.

She took a quick breath before responding, "you shall know soon enough."

"We have to hurry," Aisha pressed. "We don't know how much longer Zordon has. If we're gone for much longer—"

"Zordon was aware of the risks once he obtained the Azurite Healiodore," Dulcea reminded her. "He has nothing but faith in you all and you should be proud of that. You must believe in yourselves."

Tommy reached out and grabbed onto Kimberly's hand, holding it tightly in his. The pink ranger looked up at him and was suddenly lost in his eyes. Something washed over her; the same feeling of love and protectiveness she had felt when she first realized she loved him, on her birthday. But this was different; this was even stronger than she had ever felt before. She knew…he was the one.

The one she'd spend the rest of her life with, the one she wouldn't mind risking her life for in battle, the one that she could look to for comfort when she needed it. And here he was, doing that for her when all they needed was confirmation that what they were doing was worth it and that Zordon would be OK. Her stomach growled and the warm feeling was instantly replaced with a sudden shockwave of cold guilt. The pink ranger pulled her gaze away from the white ranger and looked at the ground, focusing her attention on her throbbing feet.

Finally, Dulcea led the rangers up a steep incline and as the large branches and leaves of the foliage were pushed out of their way, a medievalesque rock formation sat before them. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha exchanged glances of Then we see them going across a dirt ground, and then we see a castle shaped rock formation. The ruins stretched around them in the large clearing, a fire pit sat in the middle of the ruins. The ruins sat atop the largest cliff, with orange sky surrounding them on all sides, showing off the many moons Phaedos had to offer.

"Wow," Rocky breathed. He spun in a slow circle, taking in the sights the ruins had to offer.

"Amazing," Adam agreed. He placed his hands on his hips, walking up to the edge of the ruins. His eyes scanned over the area of Phaedos they hadn't gotten to by that point. There was still so much they had to search for, if the great power really was something they could obtain. They were close, he could feel it. _We're coming for you, Zordon. Please hold on._

"Beauty," Avalon whispered. Despite the situation, she shared a smile with Tommy. The ruins were majestic, rustic, something they would probably never be able to see again. And it being on a distant planet were no one else would ever reach made it that much more…breathtaking.

"What is this place?" Tommy asked Dulcea, the rangers all turning to face her.

Dulcea stretched her arms out wide, showcasing the area around them. "These are the ancient ruins of the Ninjetti Temple," Dulcea explained. She lowered her arms and faced the rangers, holding tightly onto her staff. She looked at the area around them before motioning towards the edge of the ruins, towards the jungle that stretched out ahead of them. "There, beyond the Neyolid Jungle is the monolith. Inside awaits the power of the universe. The great power you're looking for. The great power you had been destined to find, that Zordon has send your for. Out there…" She took in a deep breath, her long, wavy hair moving out of her face as a light wind blow. "The monolith is heavily guarded against intruders. No one has ever survived an attempt to reach it."

"Then how can we?" Aisha asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, if no one else has succeeded…how do we know we won't be picked apart by more things like those Tengu?" Avalon added. Her lower lip stuck out a little bit as she chewed it with worry.

Dulcea looked at Aisha and Avalon, giving the latter a bit of a frosty stare. "You were chosen by Zordon, I have faith in his wisdom."

Tommy took a step forward. They always had Zordon's faith on his side, but that didn't necessarily mean they were going to succeed if they ever needed to. They couldn't always go off just on blind-faith as much as they wanted to. "Can you help us?" He asked.

Dulcea turned around and walked towards the fire. "We will call upon the sacred animals of the Ninjetti for help."She grasped the Azurite Healiodore in her hands. "That's the power that resides in the Heliodore. The power of the spirit animals and the elements they're related to. They're deep inside you just as they're deep inside this stone. The stone came from this planet, Phaedos. And has harnessed the spirit of the ninjetti for years, waiting for those that were waiting to harness them."

The stone glowed in her hands and she nodded to the rangers. "Please stand there and be prepared to take on the power of the ninjetti."

"Is this the great power we've been looking for? "Adam asked the woman as the other rangers moved to do as they were told. Dulcea turned towards him and walked forward a few paces, standing in front of him. Her eye moved up and down his form and Adam blushed, looking away from her. "I…I just want to be sure this isn't all for nothing."

"Adam…" Dulcea's voice was low, soothing. "If this wasn't to happen, you wouldn't have made it here."

The black ranger nodded and Dulcea gave a hint of a smile. She tilted her head and Adam nodded before going off to join his friends. Dulcea placed the Azurite Healiodore on one of the largest rocks nearby and stepped back from it. She pointed her staff at the gem and it glowed a bright white color before the light shot up into the air. There was a cracking sound and the Azurite Healiodore fell apart, crumbling into dust. The dust flew through the air, riding the breeze, until it fell over the fire pit that was sitting in the center of the ruins. As the dust fell over the fire, the fire instantly roared to life, creating warmth around the otherwise cold ruins.

The light faded and fell into her staff. She picked up her staff and turned back towards the rangers, her eyes set in determination. She stopped at the edge of the fire and looked over the seven rangers, taking in each of them for a few seconds before her eyes moved onto the next. "Very deep within each of us is an animal spirit waiting to be released. Close your eyes and look deep inside."

The rangers glanced at each other before they all nodded, closing their eyes. Dulcea brought up her staff and held it up high. She closed her eyes and focused on the energy inside the staff. Opening her eyes, she pointed it towards the rangers and the light escaped once more, shooting over the smoke the flames produced, striking the rangers. Sparkles circled around the rangers as the flames continued to increase in strength, rising higher and higher over the flames. When the fire finally died down, the rangers stood in new suits, in their respective colors, taking on the form of the Ninjetti.. Dulcea then blows the dust over the fire and the flame of the fire gets taller.

Dulcea motioned for the rangers to take off their hoods and masks before walking over to the yellow ranger. She smiled down at the African-American teen, who smiled back. "Aisha, you are the Bear, fierce and unstoppable." She then moved over to Rocky, who grinned, hands clenched into fists. He was already ready to see what his new powers had to offer. "Rocky; powerful, smart, you are the mighty Ape." Then she moved on to Billy, "Billy, you are the Wolf, cunning and swift."

Next was Kimberly, "Agile Kimberly, light as a feather, you are the Crane." Then Avalon. "Avalon, ferocious and protective, you are the tiger." Then she moved onto Adam, who looked down at his ninjetti suit and turned away. "Adam…" She gazed at him for a long moment and he continued to refuse her gaze. "Adam, what's wrong?"

Adam twisted his hands together, gently rocking back and forth on his feet before replying, "I'm a frog." What was a frog going to do compared to his friends' animals? Stick it tongue out and hope to catch his prey? What parts of himself were represented in a frog? Did that mean that he didn't stand up to the power that was being given to them?

The warrior laughed at his plight and shook her head. "Yes, a Frog, like the one you kiss, you get a handsome prince." She tells him, kissing his forehead. Adam smiled a little. "Patient and wise, Adam. That makes you the frog." She then moved over to the white ranger. "And you Tommy are the Falcon, winged lord of the skies."

She stepped away from the rangers and addressed them all. "There is one last power, that shall be taken over when the time is right. Determined and proud…shall become the lion." She placed her hand on her chest. "To be in harmony with the animal spirit, is to have the force of the Ninjetti. To those who are Ninjetti, anything is possible." She tells the rangers. "But I'm afraid you must do this on your own."

She continued to back away until she was on the far end of the ruins. The rangers exchanged glances, noticing the solemn of her tone.

"You're not coming with us, Dulcea?" Aisha asked.

"If only I could," Dulcea said. "However I cannot step beyond the plateau. If I do decide to take that risk, I'll age as rapidly as Zordon. There strength is inside you, trust it, trust _them._ Your sacred animals will be your guide and may they watch over you." She smiled. "Allow yourself to become immersed in your ways and when you truly do connect with that power, you will be ready to accomplish the Great Power." She lifted her staff high into the air and the staff let out a bright light, when it faded a snowy white owl sat where Dulcea had been.

The rangers watched as the owl flapped its wings and flew off of the ruins.

Tommy turned to the rangers. "We better get some sleep guys," he said to them. "We're going to need it if we're going to get some training in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long for me to get back to posting this here. I hope you all are still interested in reading. Again, this is completed on my FFN profile, AvalonBay.


	7. Training Day

**Chapter 07**

_Training Day_

* * *

When the rangers awoke the next morning, after having been led by Dulcea to huts that had cots of their individual colors inside, the rangers noticed Dulcea standing in the middle of the clearing, waiting patiently for them.

"Dulcea," Adam said to her, exchanging a glance with the rangers. He slowly walked towards her. "What are you doing here? I thought…I thought we were supposed to do this on our own?"

The warrior gave him and the rangers a soft smile. "You are to find the great power…fight Ivan all on your own. But I cannot reveal the powers of the ninjetti to you all and expect you'd take it upon yourselves to learn it quickly." She motioned with her staff. "You are to train, to learn that the animal spirits are inside you, to guide you where you are to go and to help you along the way."

"Where did the spirits come from?" Billy asked. Adam glanced over at the blue ranger. His eyes were narrowed in the expression he typically had when thinking or stumped with a hard question. "They great power…they couldn't have just… _existed."_

The black ranger exchanged a glance with the red ranger, who had made a quiet snorting sound beside him. The two locked eyes, trying not to laugh out loud. That was Billy; he was a rational thinking, scientific driven guy. Having gotten such a small idea of how they had gotten their powers as well as where they had come from and how the Azurite Healiodore had fallen into it probably didn't sit well with him when he just wanted facts and answers.

And all Adam wanted was to get the power, get back to Earth, and save Zordon. _And Sabrina…_ he sighed quietly. It was a hard situation to be in; falling for a girl that had turned out to be one of the monsters that had continuously tried to destroy him and the other rangers. And that was only when she turned into Scorpina, otherwise she was a normal, sweet, girl that seemed to be Adam's perfect match. He had left her behind at Ernie's, having been called out to help Zordon…then she had been a great hand in helping destroy their zords and power and had _laughed_ and screamed in victory when they fell.

That was the hardest part; knowing Sabrina was in there somewhere but when Scorpina was around, he was stuck between the decision of killing her and potentially killing Sabrina too, or allowing himself to be killed. _How does anyone get through that decision? How did Kim and Billy get through it when Tommy was the evil green ranger?_

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Adam turned his attention back to Dulcea as she had started to speak once more. "Very well, Billy, I can see that this information will be of help to you." She tilted her head to the side. "You really do exhibit the attribute of the wolf."

Adam looked over as, on his other side, Avalon shuffled her feet, letting out a quiet sound that he thought resembled a growl. But when he looked at the orange ranger, he watched the annoyed expression quickly move off her face and turn back to one of curiosity, as if she had been innocently listening to the warrior the whole time.

"The power of the Ninjetti was developed by the Nathadians," she explained. "Those that inhabited areas from all over, from other times…other dimensions. They were the ones that had brought the Great Power from their existence and placed them in the Nathadian Monolith."

"The Nathadian Monolith," Kimberly repeated breathlessly. "Is that what we're looking for?"

Dulcea nodded in confirmation. "The Nathadian Monolith has been protecting the Great Power for centuries…thousands of years…and beings from all over the universe had tried to obtain it." She flicked some of her hair over her shoulders as a pained expression filled her face. However, she kept her head held high as she spoke her next words, "I am the sole remnant of the Nathadians."

Adam lowered his chin, giving her a moment of silence as her voice very briefly caught in her throat towards the end of her speech. He couldn't begin to imagine what it was like for Avalon, who's parents had abandoned her, Tommy who had been adopted and didn't know anything of his birth parents, Rocky who's father had left his family not too long ago, and Billy who had just lost his mother to a monster fight were feeling. He couldn't even _begin_ to imagine what that would've been like, but having been the only person left in the entire race…that was horrific. He understood why Dulcea had tried her hardest to keep the rangers from staying on Phaedos and seeking out the great power. She didn't want to watch anyone else continue to perish while they tried to get to the power she and her people had sealed away.

"In our language, "Nin" means man and "Jetti" means animal," she continued. "The power of the Ninjetti is a combination of man and animal becoming one. The genesis of what you on Earth have come to know as the ninja…it's the perfect unison of mind, body, and spirit. Without the ninjetti power, the Great Power would destroy you all." She motioned to the area around her, where the rangers finally noticed that there had been food set up for them. "Please, eat; you'll need your strength for training." She sat cross legged on the ground, the bottom of her cloak rising up over her legs as she did so.

The rangers sat down in a circle in front of her, taking the positions where their color coded dishware was placed for them. Adam looked over at Dulcea and did a double-take, feeling a small smile slide onto his face. He couldn't help it; he was a healthy teenage boy and the fact that her outfit under her cloak was more scantily clad than the one before. Glancing at the other boys he noticed that they had similar stunned expressions on their faces.

"I expect you all have a lot of questions," Dulcea remarked smoothly. "What else is there you'd like to know?"

There was a moment of silence and Kimberly looked over at Tommy and frowned, noticing his gaze. She gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs, causing the white ranger to jump and whip towards his girlfriend, blinking rapidly. His ponytail flew over his shoulder as he glanced at her.

Kimberly looked at her boyfriend with narrowed eyes. "The lady asked you a question," she remarked through gritted teeth.

"Huh?" He blinked and came back to his sense, suddenly causing the other boys to do so as well.

"Uh-oh," Rocky muttered under his breath in a sing-song voice. "Someone's in trouble." He lifted his plate of food to cover the snicker that burst out of him, causing Adam to laugh. Rocky's laugh was cut short by Aisha elbowing him in the side. This caused Adam to laugh harder, albeit still quietly.

 _I guess he's in trouble, too,_ Adam thought. His laughter was immediately sobered by the thought. _We're all in trouble,_ he realized. They really needed to take things more seriously while they were there. Who knew how much time Zordon really had left?

"Oh, uh, we're, ah…" Tommy tried to come up with a question but keep his gaze away from the warrior as well. So much so that Kimberly rolled her eyes before intervening, saving her boyfriend from his plight.

"You said that the Great Power is at the Nathadian Monolith," she reminded the warrior. Dulcea nodded quietly. "How are we supposed to get to it?"

"To enter the Nathadian Monolith, you must focus on the power, the Great Power itself, for about 20 triacs," Dulcea explained calmly. "A triac is about twenty seconds in earth time."

Adam's eyes flew open as he sat up straight. A triac was twenty seconds of earth time. Was that the time they were in on Phaedos? If so, did that mean more time was passing by on Earth? That more time was passing for Zordon. The sharp intake of breaths around him proved his friends had the same thoughts. Kimberly's face feel, Aisha wrapped her arms around her knees, chewing her lower lip, Avalon appeared angry—which as Adam had come to realize wasn't a far association with the orange ranger, Tommy suddenly appeared very tired, Rocky looked concerned, and Billy looked as serious as Adam had ever seen the black ranger.

"Zordon had mentioned something about the Order of the Meledon," Billy spoke up. "What was that?"

Dulcea gave a soft smile. "The Order of the Meledon was a rebel factor, they were the ones that lured Ivan into his chamber and buried him. They were Zordon's faction of brave, young warriors."

"So they were power rangers?" Avalon asked, slowly nodding. "But of a different space as Zordon's said that we're the first human rangers, yeah?"

"You are correct, tiger warrior," Dulcea remarked with a nod. "We were also part of the peace-keeping force. Zordon was…widely regarded as the finest commander in the galaxy, if not for him, the universe would be a very different place from what it is today. Over time, our enemies were defeated, I returned to Phaedos and Zordon moved on to continue the struggle elsewhere." She paused. "I see that you've noticed my plight when I heard Ivan was free and Zordon lay dying. Without his help…Phaedos would never have been rid of Ivan's evil reign and I would've perished along with the rest of my people. I owe him my life."

There was another long moment of silence and Dulcea regained her composure. She picked up a clay mug and drank the cool water that was inside before picking up her bowl. She motioned for the rangers to start eating. She picked up a slug-like creature and slid into her mouth, sliding it into her mouth with an audible slurp and pop, swallowing it thickly.

Avalon grimaced, looking into her own bowl. "Is this food?"

Dulcea nodded, picking up another one from her bowl. "They're called squirbs," she explained. "They're very delicious and it promotes strength."

"Strength from what?" Adam murmured, poking at the squirb in his bowl. It squished and wiggled as he did so. He felt his stomach moving a few inches to the side. "From trying really hard not to puke?"

"You're telling me," Aisha said under her breath. She looked into her bowl and dry-heaved before pushing it away from her. "I don't think even Rocky will eat this and he eats _everything."_ Rocky grunted, picking at his own food.

Kimberly squealed, poking her own squirb before picking up the eel-like creature between her fingers. It wiggled back and forth. "Oh, this is, like, so sick," she moaned. "I think mine is a bit undercooked." She watched as Dulcea sprinkled something brown on top of her squirb and continued to eat. When she was sure no one was looking, Kimberly tossed one of her squirbs over her shoulder and into the underbrush. Her stomach growled in protest, but she ignored it.

The Phaedoian warrior's eyes sparkled as she watched the rangers continue to squirm, clearly enjoying their torment as they tried to eat the bizarre food. Tommy poked his squirb and let out a cry of surprise when his hissed at him, aiming for his finger. The white ranger quickly pushed his bowl away, shuddering.

Adam leaned forward and watched as Billy let out a heavy sigh, preparing himself, and picked up a squirb between his fingers. He slowly raised it to his mouth and put it inside before he could stop himself. He chewed a few times and swallowed before burping loudly. Adam's mouth dropped open in shock, surprise, and disgust. He was sure his face immediately screwed up into an expression of revulsion that had to have rivaled Avalon's. He would've laughed at her expression if his wasn't frozen as well.

"Not bad," he finally said, licking his lips.

"Want mine?" The blue ranger suddenly had dishes of the colors of the rainbow shoved in his face. He gave them all serious, almost Dad-like, looks, silently telling them to eat their own food, causing the rangers to, dejectedly, drop their bowls back into their laps.

Adam picked at his food as he looked around the clearing. The clearing they were in was humid, a thick cloud of heat surrounding the rangers. But their ninjetti suits had proved to be more functional than any of them had thought. They were loose, thin, and kept the rangers cool despite the climate around them. The jungle around them creaked with what sounded like the sort of insects and animals the rangers had on Earth. That was the slight bit of comfort they all had while on the distant planet.

"Listen," Tommy finally said. "We appreciate your hospitality, Dulcea, but we really don't have a lot of time."

"And for all we know, Angel Grove could already be under attack," Rocky added. "We don't have time for this." He held up his hands as Dulcea turned his way. "Not that I want to get attacked by your scary staff and all of the power you possess but…"

He trailed off as Dulcea swiftly stood up, and whisked off her cloak, revealing her outfit once more. The hardened expression returned to her face as she looked over the rangers. Her eyes flashed. "Prepare yourselves for the most intense physical and mental training you'll ever receive."

Dulcea led the rangers off a little further into the clearing before taking the girls one way and the boys another. Once she came back to help the guys, she worked with them one by one, demonstrating each of their powers. First, she led them to a waterfall that had rocks protruding from the bottom. She motioned for Tommy to follow her to the rocks and moved, standing upon the. Rocky, Billy, and Adam stood aside, watching the warrior as she turned to the white ranger.

"The falcon never struggles with air, it becomes one with it." She turned and jumped high into the air, soaring over the rangers' heads, and landed on another protruding rock on the other side of the clearing.

Adam's mouth dropped open. Not only was the warrior strong and very beautiful, but she was clearly very skilled as well. He exchanged a stunned glance with Rocky and Billy, whose mouths were dropped open as well. _Whoa._

Tommy tried not to let his shock show on his face. He lightly started to bounce back and forth, psyching himself up. "You can do this, Tommy," he said to himself. He glanced down at the water and then back over towards Dulcea. "Oh boy, you can do this."

He spread his arms out as far as he could, leapt forward, and rocketed down towards the water, sending out a large spray as he crashed through. Rocky bust out into hysterical laughter, grabbing onto his sides and exchanged a glance with Adam. Billy brought a hand up and covered his mouth; trying and failing to conceal his laughter.

Tommy sputtered as he came back to the surface, pushing his headband out of his face. "Ha ha, real funny." He kicked his way over towards the edge of the pool and lifted himself out. His ninjetti outfit clung to him, making him appear like a waterlogged cat with a glare to match. "Let's see how well you do."

The three laughing rangers suddenly cut off as Dulcea landed on the ground beside them, hard enough to crack the ground underneath her feet. Rocky cowered in fear behind Adam, who had tried to duck behind him as well. Dulcea turned to Billy, giving him a hard look.

"You all will have plenty of time to work at this; it is now your turn, wolf warrior." She walked over to the trees nearby and picked them up. She handed one over to Billy, who took it and glanced at the length for a few moments before looking back at Dulcea. "The wolf relies on its enhanced senses to guide it. He can hear what we can't hear, smell what we can't smell." She slowly swung her stick around, them making a light whistling sound as she did so.

"It's all about angles and geometry," Billy said. "Kind of like pool, figuring where would be the best place to strike with the length of the weapon." He crouched into a fighting stance and started to swing at Dulcea. She easily deflected each and every one of his blows before she struck back, striking him with her stick before finally thwacking him across the shoulders and knocking him into the water of the pond.

Before Rocky had a chance to burst out laughing once more, Dulcea motioned for him to go over to the towering tree the large sticks had been leaning against. She made a show of scrambling up the tree, making it to the top in a matter of seconds. She dropped back to the ground, next to a wide eyed Rocky. "The ape is strong, but more importantly flexible and free."

 _That proves it, she just wants to embarrass us,_ Adam thought, bringing his hands up to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the tree. _Or kill us, whichever comes first._

"OK." Rocky spat into his hands, rubbing them together. "Let's see what I got." He grabbed onto the tree and started to scramble upwards, making it about fifteen feet before slipping and crashing back to the ground. The red ranger groaned as he rolled onto his side. "Apparently not a lot."

Dulcea stepped over him and motioned for Adam to follow her into a clearing a few yards away, through the trees. Adam immediately started to swat at his face as the insects started to buzz around his face, making his skin crawl. Dulcea continued to stand in the middle of the clearing, not appearing to be bothered by the flying insects. As he watches, she suddenly shot out her hand, in the blink o fan eye, and turned her hand over, showing off the insect that she had managed to catch.

"The frog remains still and silent while it assesses its target, then strikes in the blink of an eye," she explained.

Adam nodded, letting out a deep breath. He watched as the insects buzzed around him, trying to find the one that would become his prey. He finally focused on one and his eyes shifted back and forth in the air in front of him before he reached out a hand and…missed completely. He tried a few more times before blinking in surprise as Dulcea's fist suddenly appeared in front of his face. He stumbled backward and fell onto his back on the ground.

Dulcea walked over and stood above him for a moment before kneeling on the ground beside him. She looked over his face for a few moments before shaking her head. Reaching out, she patted him on the cheek.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Adam, you can do this." She stood up once more, straightening her staff. "I'll leave you all to your training." Lifting his head, Adam watched as Dulcea walked away, before dropping his head back to the ground.

The rangers continued to train as long as they could, slowly over time starting to make headway with their training until they were finally able to do everything the way Dulcea had shown them. Adam lowered his hand as he caught his millionth fly. Though if he was being modest, he was sure it was only a few thousand, he had been working on it long enough. Grinning, he turned and walked back through the brush to meet up with his friends. Now the frog didn't seem as such a wimpy animal spirit as it had been before.

Being able to strike so quickly…it was nothing like he had ever felt before. When the other rangers had said that they were able to actually control the elements before…it must've felt like that. He had never thought he would go on to become someone that other people counted on and would look up to. Having to leave to find the power to have them again…he just hoped that Ivan wasn't doing too much damage on Angel Grove. How many other people had that sort of responsibility?

 _Let's just hope we can find the Power and get back to Zordon in time._ Adam wiped sweat off his forehead as he came through the clearing, just in time to watch Rocky climb p the tree once more. He made his way to the top in a few seconds before sliding back down to the ground. Adam shook his head as the red ranger landed in front of him, a large smile on his face.

"Dude, this is awesome!" He cried before giving Adam a high-five. "If this was deep inside us for so long, I wonder why we hadn't been able to tap into it before."

Adam shrugged, falling into step with his best friend as they headed back towards the waterfall. "Maybe because we relied on our actual morphing powers for so long," he said slowly, working it out as they walked along. "If our animal spirits had always been inside us while we had our powers before, there was no need to tap into it. But how knows, we had handled the Azurite Healiodore in our possession for a while and it hadn't done anything before even though that's where our ninjetti powers were being held." He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it would've helped when we were fighting Sagittaria."

"You're telling me," Rocky agreed with a snort. "Sagittaria, Goldar, Scorpina." He threw his hands into the air. "Hell, it'd even help us sooner with Ivan and we wouldn't have had to come out here and worry about eating squirbs and stuff."

 _Ouch._ Adam lowered his gaze t his feet. Just what he needed, another reminder of Scorpina.

Rocky noticed his mistake and immediately placed his hand on Adam's shoulder, holding him still. "I'm sorry, man," he apologized to him. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I know it's really hard for you, not knowing if she's gonna suddenly shank you or something." Adam rolled his eyes as Rocky laughed to himself. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. But still, it must suck."

Waving a hand, Adam lifted his gaze. "It's hard," he admitted. "I mean, I can't really get close to her because, like you said, I don't know if she's gonna suddenly turn around and stab me or something. But…it's not fair that she got brought into this and—"

"Have you ever thought that you're not really into her but more that you're helping her because you feel that you _owe_ her to help her?" Rocky asked. The question stopped Adam dead in his tracks, seconds before Tommy landed on the ground in front of the two of them, making the black and red rangers jump and let out a screech of surprise.

The white ranger's eyes widened as he reached up and pulled off his hood, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Geez, relax, guys, you're acting like you just saw Rita without her makeup or something." He laughed at his joke and walked over to the edge of the pond the waterfall, Billy coming over from the bushes.

"What happened?" the blue ranger asked, tightly holding onto his weapon. "I heard someone scream."

"Apparently their nerves are shot more than we thought they would be," Tommy remarked. He removed the top half of his ninjetti suit and pulled off his boots. Rolling up the bottoms towards his knees he waded into the water and started to wash off his upper half. "I don't know, Billy, if they keep working like that, they may not be able to handle being rangers."

Billy's eyes made a half-rotation as he smirked, tossing his weapon aside. "I don't know, man. They've been helping us so far, I don't think you should kick them out yet."

"Ha ha." Rocky rolled his eyes and he, Adam, and Billy followed Tommy's lead and stripped down to the bottoms of their ninjetti suits so that they could start to wash themselves as well. "And to think the only other alternative we have is to stay here with Dulcea." He paused before smiling widely. "Which doesn't seem like a really bad alternative if you ask me."

"Yeah, y'know, other than having to worry about her rapidly aging like Zordon once she gets too far away from the ruins," Billy reminded her. His smirk widened. "Other than that, I'd say go for it." He and Tommy laughed as Adam smiled.

"It wouldn't work for me anyway," Rocky continued. "She has a thing for Adam."

Standing up straight, Adam glanced over at the red ranger with an incredulous expression on his face. "Dulcea doesn't have a thing for me."

"She kissed you on the forehead, dude," Rocky pointed out.

"So?"

"So, the only other people that we know that do that are Av and Bay," Tommy pointed out. "Otherwise that'd be really weird." He snapped and pointed over at Rocky, whose face immediately dropped from the smile that was almost ever present. "Watch it." The red ranger lifted his hands defensively but didn't say anything otherwise.

Adam shook his head. "Her kissing me on the forehead doesn't necessarily mean that she has a thing for me." He shrugged. "I was upset—"

"—about having a wimpy animal, we get that," Rocky said. He then let out a cry of pain as Adam used his new ninjetti powers to strike Adam on the shoulder. "Ow! Geez, all I'm saying is that Dulcea is a very attractive woman."

"For an alien," Tommy pointed out.

"I saw the way you looked at her today," Rocky pointed out. "And you're lucky Kim only elbowed you instead of forcibly picking your jaw up off the ground." He rubbed his ribs. "And 'Sha really packs a punch when she needs to. It seems like Billy here was the only one that managed to get out unscathed."

"Sure, if the jealousy doesn't do him in," Tommy spoke up.

The blue ranger lifted his gaze to the sky, ears starting to turn red before the crimson hue bloomed across his face. Finally, he lowered his gaze to the white ranger's. "I don't know—"

"Don't even try to deny it," Tommy interrupted. Now Adam and Rocky laughed loudly as the white ranger took into spelling things out for the blue ranger. "You can't tell me that you haven't noticed that Av gets jealous of nearly every girl you talk to." He scratched the side of his neck. "Remember when she was mad about not being able to go to Australia and Kim was also upset because we were told that we couldn't date?"

Billy tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. There was that one comment the orange ranger had made that had him wondering about it. Though, truth be told, he hadn't put a lot of thought into it only because he had been so busy. Then Kim had arrived at his garage lab that one other time and had basically asked him the same question, but had been very direct about it. He avoided her question the best he could, turning the conversation back to her so that she wouldn't continue to dig into him as she had the tendency to do when the topic of love came up.

"I remember," Billy said evenly.

Tommy made a noise of frustration and Adam and Rocky exchanged glances. The black ranger then decided to try and pick up the conversation. " _I'm_ just saying that when we were talking about you going out with Marge Av didn't appear that happy about that either."

"And you always seem to get mad whenever she talks to me," Rocky added. "Not that I can blame you, I've had nothing but good luck with the ladies—"

"—by that he means his mother," Adam broke in, reaching out and shoving the red ranger away from him. Billy chuckled and reached out, giving the black ranger a fist bump. "Seriously, though, I think that you and Av would be really good together." He shrugged, nodding.

"And she's been the nicest to you since we met, and you're the only one that she continuously calls by a nickname," Tommy added. "And you two really do seem to respect and care for each other, dude."

Billy let out another sigh and smiled which caused Tommy to laugh.

"Thank the Lord! Now she can get off my back about me and Kim!" Jokingly, Tommy reached over and grabbed onto Billy's hands, shaking them vigorously. "I wish you all the luck in the world, man."

"We're not getting married, man," Billy reminded him. "I just said that I like her."

"And think of it this way," Rocky chimed in. "If they got married, Billy would be your brother." Now Tommy and Billy laughed before exchanging a glance and turning back towards the red ranger, sending waves of water flying his way. Rocky sputtered, holding his arms up to shield himself before showering them back, using large, arching sweeps of his arms to create massive waves that soaked the blue and white rangers in seconds.

All of a sudden, Adam surged forward when Rocky was looking and leapt on top of him, knocking the two into the water. Seconds later, Tommy and Billy joined the scuffle as well. Whooping and hollering, the boys continued to wrestle in the water, splashing each other until they finally tired out and collapsed back on the sand.

As their laughter faded the gravity of their situation overwhelmed them once more.


	8. Fighting Back

**Chapter 08**

_Fighting Back_

* * *

"Whoa!" Fred grasped the metal cage that sat in front of him and watched as the police car finally managed to weave through the adults that had filled the streets and now found it filled with mayhem. Bailey gasped lightly as she leaned forward as well.

Instead of adults walking like zombies through the streets, there were now a bunch of kids rampaging through the streets and as the four watched, the kids ran back and forth across the road swinging baseball bats and golf clubs. Trash cans were thrown all over the street, mail boxes were bashed in, and as the car turned onto the main street, they saw that storefronts had been bashed in and kids ran out of the broken windows carrying as much loot they could hold.

"Bulkie, should we do something?" Skull asked worriedly, watching as the kids ran back and forth across the street, whooping and hollering.

"I don't know," Bulk said honestly. "They're clearly breaking the law, but I don't think it's normal." He let out a cry of surprise and slammed his foot on the break, causing the car to come to a sudden halt. Fred and Bailey shot forward, crashing into the metal gate in front of them. "Sorry," he apologized seconds before the car started to rock and back and forth on its shocks.

"Hey! Hey! Get off the car!" Skull shouted towards the kids and teenagers that started to climb up onto the cop car. Some stood by the side of the vehicle and placed their hands on the windows, shaking it back and forth. A tall teenager climbed up onto the hood of the car, waving a baseball bat over his head and screaming at the top of his lungs.

And as the four inside the car watched, the teenager brought the bat up above his head and started to bring it back down, but the sound of a gunshot caused the teenagers to scatter. Bailey let out a yelp and clasped her hands over her mouth as Fred beside her, screamed. Bulk whipped his head to the side and watched as Skull pulled himself back through the window of the passenger seat, replacing his handgun into the holster.

The three stared at him and he turned back, eyebrows lowering when he noticed the stares coming his way. "Well, I had to do _something,_ " he explained. His hands shook as he brought them back to his lap. "That's the first time I've ever had to shoot a gun," he said quietly. "I hope I didn't hurt anyone."

"You did good, buddy." Bulk reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "You did good." Skull smiled at him gratefully and Bulk turned to look out the front windshield once more. "Now, let's go and save the world!" He turned on the sirens and sped off towards the construction site. As they went, teenagers jumped out of the way of the car but continued to beat the sides as they went by.

Bailey chewed her lower lip, straining to see out the window as they arrived at the construction site. The four quickly clambered out of the car and watched in shock and surprise as the adults streamed into the site. They fell in step along with the stream of people and followed them up to a throne that had been set up in the center of the site. As they approached, Bailey looked over and spotted Ivan and came to a halt.

"Quick!" She cried, darting behind a large pile of dirt. "Behind here!" She pushed Fred, Bulk, and Skull behind the mound and sat down on the ground, pressing her back against it. "I saw Ivan up there, he can't see me or else he'll know that I'm here! He might try to destroy us or something, he's _that_ bad!"

"That guy is Ivan?" Skull peered over the top of the mounds of dirt. " _That_ magician is a snot bucket monster?" He cried. "At least he looked better then than he does now."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Bailey murmured. She brushed her hair out of her face, taking a deep breath. _OK, what to do? What to do?_ Her brain moved a mile a minute. She hadn't thought further than going to see what it was that Ivan was doing. Especially considering it would take forever to find a way to get back to the Command Center if not going straight back to her home to check everything there. _I hope David's OK._ She didn't think he would find a way to get into the Ooze, but who knew what Ivan would do if he got the chance to research the rangers a little. She continued to sit, hunched over as Bulk, Skull, and Fred looked around, giving her the play by play of what Ivan was doing.

"Now there's a golden…monkey with him," Bulk relayed. His mouth dropped open. "Hey! I've seen him before!"

"That's Goldar," Bailey explained. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "He's been chasing us around for years and really wants to see us dead, probably as much as Ivan does. But he doesn't really have the power to do it compared to him, Rita, and Zedd."

"I remember," Skull remarked. "He's chased us around a few times." He sniffed, continuing to look around. All of a sudden, Fred turned and grabbed onto Bailey's hand.

"Bay, it's my Dad," he said. Bailey got up on her knees and leaned against his back, straining to see. The two watched as Mitch walked into the construction site and veered off to the left. He fell to his knees and started to dig through the dirt like the rest of the adults were doing. "I think…they're looking for something," she said. _What could they be looking for? Ivan's chamber has been unlocked and he's clearly running the city. What was it that Zordon had said?_ She suddenly gasped loudly and started to pound her fist onto his back.

"Ow! Bay, stop!" Fred hissed at her. "What are you doing?"

"They're looking for ectomorphicons."

"For what?"

Bailey slid off of his back and turned back to Bulk and Skull, who leaned in to hear her explanation. "You know our Zords, right?" The three nodded. "It's sort of like that, but these things can really cause destruction. About 6,000 years ago, Ivan managed to take over the Earth and utterly _destroy_ everything, because of those things. I bet that's what he's looking for! He got rid of our powers so that he could regain the ectomorphicons and destroy the Earth."

"So what are we going to do?" Bulk asked.

"First thing _I'm_ going to do is get my Dad," Fred said firmly. Before the purple ranger could stop him, he turned and scurried behind large piles of dirt and rock to get to his father. _Bollocks,_ Bailey thought, gritting her teeth. She turned back to Bulk and Skull.

"I'm going to go after him, you two see if you two cover me. And hold onto this." She handed Skull the Tupperware of Ooze and scurried after Fred, ducking, bobbing, and weaving out of the way to be sure she wasn't seen. There were Oozemen everywhere, patrolling to be sure the adults were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

When she was about to reach Fred, she heard Ivan start to speak once more. He laughed loudly, gleefully and as she looked up towards him, he had his arms raised above his head. "Feast your eyes upon the exoskeleton of the barbaric Hornitor!" He called. "Keep digging you pitiful, fools! The dreadful Scorpitron should be nearby, and once I have them both up and running, I shall annihilate Angel Grove and those pesky power rangers!"

Bailey chewed her lower lip and continued over to Fred, who had just reached his father and was kneeling by his side, shaking his shoulder. "Dad, c'mon, we have to get out of here!" He glanced over at Bailey with concern as Mitch didn't respond; he continued to dig handfuls of dirt out of the way. "Dad. Dad!"

"Mr. Kelman," Bailey tried. She leaned over and looked into his eyes. His gaze was directed into the ground and periodically they flashed purple. She shook her head. "No good, mate, he's under whatever it is that Ivan has him under. I reckon all these people are."

Fred frowned, eyes narrowing into a glare. He chewed his lower lip then turned back to his father, shaking him even harder. He continued to shake his father, hoping to break him out of his trance until Bailey reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Fred, stop, this isn't helping."

Fred sighed, squeezing her hand. "I don't know what to do," he murmured.

"We're going to figure something out. But right now, we need to—"

"Don't take another step or I'll shoot!"

"You can't assault an officer of the law!"

There was a cracking sound of a gunshot. In normal circumstances people would start to run and scream abut as the adults were under a trance by Ivan, no one moved. Instinctively, Bailey and Fred leapt to their feet and watched as Bulk and Skull fought off four Oozeman that tried to grab onto them.

"Hey, you!"

The two whirled back around, eyes widening when they spotted Ivan and Goldar turned their way. Ivan placed his hands on his hips, taking a few steps forward. "Well, well, if it isn't the little purple ranger that stole my color. I should've had it copyrighted. Did you come here to make your grave that much easier for me to work with?" He snapped his fingers.

"Get them!" Goldar shouted.

A hand landed on Fred's shoulder and he and Bailey whirled around to see Oozemen coming their way. The one that had a grip on Fred brought his other hand up to punch him in the stomach. Fred reacted quickly and pulled off an iron hammer fist strike, a palm heel block, a front kick and a high jump kick that sent the Oozeman flying backwards onto the ground.

Bailey moved into a cartwheel and when she righted herself, sent her foot into the underside of an Oozeman's chin, causing it to stumble back. She followed up with a series of quick strikes with her elbows, fists, and feet. Her limbs moved in a flurry and she finally flipped the Oozeman onto its back and drove her foot into the side of its head. Her stomach clenched in disgust as the force of her kick caused the head of the Oozeman to break off and roll away.

"C'mon!" Fred grabbed onto Bailey's hand and the two raced back over to Bulk and Skull who were using their nightsticks to attack the Oozeman that were in their way. The purple ranger's eyebrows rose in surprise as she watched the two officers fight so viciously against the purple monsters. The knocked the purple monsters back far enough to give them space.

"What are these things?" Bulk asked. He noticed he had ooze on his hand and quickly wiped it off on his shirt. "Ugh, that's like, even worse than the snot covered spitballs we used to shoot at people!" He continued to wipe off his hand as Skull stayed in front of him, holding off the Oozemen.

"Don't just stand there!" Goldar's voice streamed over. "GET THEM!"

Bailey quickly brought her communicator up to her mouth. "Zordon, Alpha, we need to get back to the Command Center!" She lowered her communicator and listened hard for a response. Hearing nothing but static in response, she slapped herself on the forehead. _Bollocks, Bay, how could you forget that you don't have your powers right now?!_ Everything seemed to be looming in front of her; and arm's length away from being able to save everyone, Angel Grove, the Earth…and then it just got ripped from her.

"Oh come on!" She shouted towards the sky.

A second later she felt the familiar tingle of teleporting and found herself standing in the Command Center, Fred, Bulk, and Skull having been teleported there as well. As the three looking around in shock, Bailey turned to Alpha and hurried over to him. He turned from the Viewing Globe and opened his arms out to her.

"Bailey," he said. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get you back here." He lowered his head. "We really don't have a lot of power left."

"I know, Alpha, we're doing our best," Bailey said. She motioned over to Skull, who held the Tupperware of Ooze. "We got a sample of Ivan's Ooze, I wanted to do some experiments on it to be sure that we can get some sort of an idea f what'll take off his hold on everyone in Angel Grove, or see if there's a way we can defeat him."

"The last time he was around, he was put into a hyper lock chamber," Alpha agreed. "Otherwise, I don't know if he'll ever be stopped." He lowered his head before looking over at Zordon. "He doesn't have much time left, I'm afraid. You go speak with him; I'll get started on the diagnostics."

Bailey nodded and glanced over at Zordon, who continued to lie on the remnants of his power chamber. She couldn't go over there, not yet. Scratching the side of her head, she turned back to Fred, Bulk, and Skull who continued to look around in awe. She took a few steps forward.

"This is the Command Center," she explained. "It's where we come to get debriefed on the monsters or situations that are happening down on Angel Grove." She motioned to the Viewing Globe, where images of Ivan at the construction site showed. "We can see everything that's going on as soon as Rita, Zedd, or some other monster is sensed."

"So that's how you always know where we are when we're being attacked," Skull said. "I just thought that you had some sort of a sixth sense or something." He shrugged. "Or, I don't know, guardian angels or something." An embarrassed smile crossed his features and he turned to Alpha, who walked towards him with outstretched hands. "What does this bucket of bolts want?" He took a cautious step back.

"This is Alpha." Bailey placed a hand on the robot's shoulder. "He's the one that helps me and Billy design our weapons and works the computers and control panels when we're in battle." She gently shook her head. "He needs the ooze sample to dissect to see if there's anything we can do to stop Ivan." With a sigh, she turned and motioned back towards Zordon. "And that's Zordon. He's our mentor…the one that helps us out with, everything, yeah?" She started to walk over towards him, Fred, Bulk, and Skull following her. "Ivan got in here and destroyed everything and now…he's dying and the others went to find the Great Power to see if we can get our powers back and restore him."

She stopped by the edge of the space where the Power Chamber had been and looked down at the withered, gray figure. Zordon, still breathing heavily, looking over towards her only able to move his eyes. A tear fell down the purple ranger's cheek as she took in his frightening appearance.

"I'm sorry, Zordon," she said to him. "I wish I could've done something more."

Zordon took a couple deep breaths before responding. "Don't fret, purple ranger," he said to her. "You've done all you could and you're not giving up. I couldn't ask for more." He took a deep breath and then turned back to his original position. "I just pray we're not too late."

Bulk and Skull, who had been quietly watching the exchange, surveyed the Command Center. A few of the pillars that had electric currents running through them were smoking; water dripped somewhere, and the destruction all over the floor crunched underneath their feet as they walked around.

"Did you come up with anything yet, Alpha?" Skull asked him.

Alpha, who had been standing over a futuristic contraption at the side of the room, turned back towards him. "I'm afraid not," he replied. "Ivan is a monster and the ooze is a part of him, more than likely coming from a distant planet we haven't been able to reach. I'm afraid there's nothing in the diagnostic that'll give us an idea on how to reverse the effects on everyone in Angel Grove."

"That's all right, Alpha," Fred said quietly. "You tried."

Bulk chewed his lower lip and looked around the Command Center. Everything was gone or broken. Not only had been there been a whole compound where those that had taken the responsibility of protecting the city that used to reside there, but now seeing the friends they had made and the all of the work that had been done to do it…seeing it destroyed liked that was more than he could take. It was their duty as the officers of Angel Grove to protect and serve and what had they been doing? Nothing.

Nothing until they had fought off the Oozemen, but they could do more and they _would_ do more. _Lt. Stone trained us and put faith in us to be what we are and we're going to help the city the best we can._ He turned to Skull, who seemed to have thought the same thing he did for the two reached out at the same time and shook hands. Bulk then walked over to Alpha.

"Can you teleport us back to Earth?" He asked. "We can't just sit back and watch as things continue to get destroyed down there."

"Yeah," Skull agreed. "Power Rangers or no Power Rangers, we signed up for it and we're going to succeed."

Bailey turned and looked at Bulk and Skull, nodding. Then looked at Fred and nodded to him as well. She turned back to Zordon and gently placed a hand on his forehead. Leaning in, she whispered, "Hold on as long as you can, Zordon. We're going to stop this somehow." She went back to Alpha and stood in front of him. "Teleport us back down, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "Maybe we can convince the kids that there's something wrong with Ivan and we can all stop the parents somehow."

Alpha reached up and placed his hands on Bailey's face. The purple ranger smiled gently at him. "Stay safe, my friend. I know you can do this." He removed his hands and turned back to the control panels and pressed a few buttons, teleporting the four out of the Command Center.

Once they were gone, Alpha walked back over to his friend and watched as the wise sage took a couple more breaths. Then his breathing hitched and there was a rasping sound that came forth from the being's chest. Alpha continued to watch as the breathing slowed and then stopped.

The animatronic robot lowered his head. The being that had been on of his best friends, who helped him traverse the worries of using teenagers, who had given him life through the vast planets and galaxies they had traveled to...was gone. And as Alpha looked down at his fallen friend, he could feel slight twitches of his body, the way they reacted when he would experience and overload of senses.

Internally his gaskets started to leak oil, his version of crying, mourning for his friend.

"Goodbye, my friend."

* * *

Dulcea turned towards the rangers as they faced her in their ninjetti outfits. Their training had finally ended and they were ready to go find the Great Power. She shifted her staff in her hands and walked down the stone steps towards the rangers. "Your training is now complete," she said to them. "You have mastered and taken on the powers of the ninjetti. They will be there to guide you as you continue your fight against Ivan and everything that will come your way."

She tapped the bottom of her staff against the rocky ground. "Once again...I'm afraid that I can't go with you, as I may age as quickly as Zordon would if I leave this place." She gave a small smile. "Though I must admit that the time I've spent with you rangers have been…very enjoyable."

"Oh, we feel the same way, Dulcea," Rocky agreed. "You know, aside from the squirbs, everything was great." He grinned as his friends chuckled around him.

Dulcea smiled and raised her staff. "I encourage protection from your spirit animals. Don't give up on yourselves, trust in your abilities and they're lead the way. Have faith and may the power protect you."

"Thank you, Dulcea," Tommy said.

Dulcea smiled and nodded at the rangers then lifted her staff high. The rangers watched as her staff shone brightly and she transformed into her owl form. Flapping her wings gently, she took off and flew up into the air, soaring away from the rangers, who watched until she was out of sight.

Tommy turned back around and looked towards the Monolith that loomed in the distance. It was going to take some time to get there, but they'd make it and they were going to save Zordon and send defeat Ivan Ooze once and for all.

"It's time." Tommy he said to them and started the walk down from the ruins into the jungle. Avalon took up the rear of the group, plodding along with them. She hardly registered the path they took, stepping over large rocks, branches, and logs as they went along.

Her mind was back on Angel Grove, not really for what was happening there, she had nothing but the utmost faith that they were going to defeat Ivan, help Zordon and return things back to normal. No, it was the 'normal' part that she was worried about. Things around her were never 'normal' not for too long. If she didn't trick herself into thinking things were, or that she would ever be normal then things would've been fine. But no, she ignored the problems that had continued to pile up all summer long and had done her best to keep anyone else from having seen it.

Then the stress of trying to hide it came. Not only had she needed to intercept letters that came to the house as quickly as she could, but fielding calls had become a chore all on its own before having gotten a new cell phone to be able to handle it all. The guilt never bothered her that much that had been something she grew used to as soon as she had arrived in Angel Grove, but now that everything with her friends and family had been going so well she didn't want to bother them with it.

 _But that had been what caused so many problems in the first place,_ she realized. She wasn't stupid and knew history had a habit of repeating itself, she had seen it happen plenty of times from the people around her. And yet, deep down she was pretty sure it was the best decision to make given the circumstances. And that wasn't the only thing she was grappling with that she hadn't mentioned to the others. Her father wanted her and Bailey to meet up with his other daughter, Dana, so that they could meet and talk things out.

 _And yet you haven't told her about us, Dad,_ Avalon remembered having told him. How could he suggest the idea of them going out to Australia to finally meet each other if he wanted _that_ to be when he would mention his other children? And she wasn't even sure if Captain Mitchell would meet Ryan either. Having grown up under him she understood that with his job and the way he was raised, there were some things that he wouldn't say unless he felt there was a time to say it.

 _I guess I adopted the same mindset._ Avalon crossed her arms as she continued to walk along, her thoughts suddenly shifting to her mother. Not only had their relationship improved to the point where Ellie had flown back to Angel Grove for a week and while she and Bailey had a great time allowing her to see the sights and just being around her, she couldn't help but worry about Billy and whether or not it was upsetting him. He had said everything was fine and even David was welcoming, but she knew it wasn't helping.

 _I don't know if anything, even talking to someone about it, would help me right now._ Avalon brushed her hair from her face and looked up, almost bumping into Kimberly as they group slowed down. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that the group had slowed down. However, one look at the pink ranger's face and she instantly noticed how tired the pink ranger looked. In fact, Kimberly was breathing kind of heavily.

"Kim, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kimberly flashed her bright smile. "I just didn't think we'd be doing so much walking. Makes me miss teleporting, y'know?' She hopped over a rock and moved a little bit faster.

The orange ranger nodded but didn't push the subject any further. If the tables were turned and she suddenly had everyone asking 'her' if she were OK, then she probably would've snapped, reverting back to her old self. So she just let her be as the group came upon a clearing that was littered with bones. Some of those they recognized as bones from a dinosaur, but others they found were of beings they didn't recognize.

"They may be of the Nathadians," Billy remarked, placing his hands on his hips as he surveyed the scene. "If not that…then some other races that have come by to try and find the Great Power."

"What is this place?" Aisha asked as she took a few steps into the clearing. She brought her hands up and started to rub her arms. "All of these bones are giving me the creeps. It's like a horror movie in here or something."

"Looks like some kind of graveyard," Billy reiterated. He scratched the back of his head. "But I don't think it was…planned to be one." He exchanged a worried glance with Tommy, who shook his head, carefully lifting his foot to make sure he would make it over a pile of bones without crunching on them.

"I wonder what happened to them all," Kimberly whispered. She grimaced, looking over a skull of a dinosaur, noticing a small hole in the middle of its forehead. She took a step back, nearly knocking Avalon over. The orange ranger quickly grabbed onto her arms and the two backed away from the dinosaurs bones.

"Personally I'd rather not find out," Adam said. He looked around for a few moments before a small smile appeared on his face. "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

"Very funny, Adam," Aisha said to him, an annoyed tone to her voice. Adam continued to laugh to himself. It was ironic in a way, not only had the movie come out around the same time they had all become rangers, but the fact they wound up in a graveyard that was filled with nothing but dinosaur bones was something he couldn't take lightly.

At least Rocky had enjoyed his sense of humor and laughed out loud at the joke, his laughter echoing through the empty jungle. Avalon stepped over a large log, going to take a closer look at what was a humanoid alien then frowned. Thinking she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned around and scanned the clearing. Something was wrong, she could tell. Having been in the Vipers so long gave her the ability of the acute sense to know when something wasn't right.

It was too quiet; there weren't any insects chirping, no sounds of animals scurrying along under the underbrush, nothing. Her eyes shifted across the clearing but found nothing moving. She had started to turn back to the skeleton when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye once more and turned around completely. Tilting her head to the side, she watched as Billy examined the head of a skeleton that resembled a rhino or a triceratops.

Avalon leapt over a fallen log and started sprinting over towards Billy. Her frantic footsteps over the brush caught the blue ranger's attention and he turned around, just in time to see the tail of a skeleton lift up and loom over his head. As it slashed down towards him, the orange ranger leapt and caught him in the chest, knocking the two to the ground as the skeleton tail landed behind them, causing the ground to shake. Pushing herself up to her knees, she looked the blue ranger over, waiting to see if there was any blood or visible damage.

"Are you OK, Smurf?" She asked.

He groaned, eyelashes fluttering. "I think so," he breathed and then paused. "I think you knocked the wind out of me."

She chuckled, moving over and looping her arms under his. Backpedaling, she dragged him out of the way of the skeleton as it came to life, startling the rest of the rangers. "It's not the first time that's happened, mate. Sorry."

The skeleton pulled its head back and roared loudly. Turning its head, the skeleton locked its gaze on the yellow ranger and started towards her. Aisha let out a scream of surprise and stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground. She screamed again as the skeleton lifted it foot and positioned it above her.

"Aisha, hold on!" Rocky shouted. He picked up a bone and ran after the skeleton. He raced forward and smacked the bone on the side of the skeleton's head. The skeleton roared and turned its head to the side, catching the red ranger in the chest. He flew off his feet and crashed in to a tree.

"Rocky!" Kimberly yelled, attracting the monster's attention.

It looked over at them before swiftly bringing it foot down onto a still screaming Aisha. The pink ranger's yell for the red ranger swiftly changed to one of horror, hers mixing in with the rest of the rangers' screams. The skeleton turned and raced towards Adam and Kimberly, picking up speed as it went.

"You guys, help!" Aisha's voice called.

Avalon and Billy looked over where she had been and saw that she was stuck in the ground up to her chest. She placed her hands on the ground and tried to pull herself out of the hole that had been created, but found she couldn't move. The orange ranger hurried over and flopped onto her stomach, grabbing onto Aisha's hand with two of her own. She pressed her feet on the ground and held on as tightly as she could.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let go," Avalon said through gritted teeth, focusing on the effort of holding the yellow ranger, who continued to sink into the ground as the seconds passed.

"You guys hang on," Billy said to them before hurrying to follow the other rangers. Hopefully with his knowledge in science he would understand the anatomy of the skeleton and figure out how to get the thing to fall apart or something.

"Oh, right, like I have better things to do right now!" Avalon snapped back.

As the skeleton came towards him, Adam looked towards the ground underneath its feet and raced back towards him as well. He dove to the ground; hands outstretched and rolled beneath the skeleton, popping out the other side, narrowly dodging the tail of the skeleton that came crashing down behind him.

Kimberly stood her ground, ready to take on the monster with her newly enhanced ability of speed. It had been what Dulcea taught her about the crane.

"The crane maintains its agility through the perfect harmony of mind, body and spirit," Dulcea had explained before having jumped onto a log, doing a hand stand and hand walking to the other end of the log in the blink of an eye before flipping back down to the ground once more.

Kimberly had nodded and then tried her turn, but quickly found herself falling off of the log and into a shallow pond below. It took her a while until she caught the hang of it and found that she could move with the superhuman agility.

She had been ready to use her newfound agility to stop the monster, and then suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her. Bringing a hand up to her forehead, she tried to steady herself but found the ground around her swaying. There was no way she could fight like that. Turning, she started to run away from the skeleton monster, being chased into a ribcage of another skeleton.

Realizing she was trapped, she turned and watched in fear as the skeleton monster moved towards her, breaking the shield of the bones around her. Her vision continued to slant and turn for a few seconds until it straightened, and she could see just how close to danger and quite possibly death she was. "Tommy," she screamed for her boyfriend. "Tommy!"

"Hang on, Kim!" Tommy raced towards the monster, picking up a large stick as he did so. He smacked the stick into the side of the skeleton before poking it into the empty eye socket of the monster. The monster roared and turned towards the white ranger who raced towards the trunk of a tree and ran up it before soaring a few feet into the air, landing back down on the monster.

"Tommy!" Billy yelled, skidding to a stop. "Hang on!" As the monster thrashed around, trying to shake Tommy off him, the blue ranger's green eyes moved around the structure of the skeleton. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before; though a lot of it was similar. He winced as Tommy was nearly thrown off once more. Finally, Billy spotted the creaking bone. "Tommy!" He cupped his hands around his mouth. "There's a bone that's connecting the head to the neck, right behind the base of the skull! Do you see it?"

The white ranger grabbed onto the spine of the skeleton to keep himself from falling off. He glanced over it and then found the bone he had been looking for. "Yeah, I got it!" He called back. He grabbed onto it with both hands, doing his best to squeeze his knees together, holding himself up. He pulled a hard as he could, ripping the bone out from the skeleton, the force of his pull knocking himself off of the back of the skeleton and fell to the ground.

He scrambled into a sitting position, watching as the skeleton fell apart. His friends hurried to his side. "Are you okay?" Kimberly asked her boyfriend when she got to him.

"Yeah I'm fine," Tommy replied. He lifted up the bone in his hand, laughing a little. "Maybe I should keep this thing as some sort of trophy."

"Looks like Biology finally paid up for you, huh?" Billy said to Tommy with a half smile.

"I'm _so_ glad you guys are having loads of fun over there," Avalon remarked in a low growl. "But could you help me, please?!" As the other rangers had worked to fight off the skeleton, Aisha continued to sink into the ground further and further as the seconds passed. The orange ranger continued to hold onto the yellow ranger, slowly leaning forward as the ground continued to collapse beneath her.

Tommy, Billy, Kimberly, and Adam grabbed onto Avalon's right arm, freeing it from Aisha's grasp, and locked it around Tommy's arm before making a chain that extended from the hole.

"Hang on, Aisha!" Adam called to her.

"I'm trying," Aisha called back, still slipping further. "I can hold my ground with the new powers of the bear, but the ground sure ain't holding onto me!"

Tommy leaned over and grabbed onto Aisha's wrist and with a call of, "pull!" to the others, the rangers pulled back as hard as they could until Aisha came flying out of the ground, knocking them over. She fell to her knees; hand on her chest, breathing heavily.

"Thanks guys," She said to them before turning to the orange ranger. "Thanks, Av."

"No worries," she replied.

Kimberly suddenly gasped, sitting up. "Guys, where's Rocky?" The rangers scrambled to their feet and looked around, before spotting Rocky still lying on the ground where he had fallen when the skeleton monster had hit him.

"Rocky!" Aisha cried, leading the charge over to him. She skidded on the ground next to him and cradled his head in her hands, feeling around for bumps or bruises. Pulling her hand back she let out a sigh of relief when no blood came with it. "Rock? Rocky, are you OK?"

Rocky groaned a little, turning his head to the side, bust still didn't wake up. Billy moved to Rocky's leg and pinched his Achilles tendon underneath his gi, causing his eyes to flutter and slowly open. He looked up at the ranger above him and slowly pulled himself up. He mumbled something that the rangers couldn't understand, causing them to exchange worried glances. He mumbled something else then his eyes widened.

"Is it just me or did that skeleton move?" He asked, causing the rangers to laugh, breathing sighs of relief then hauled him to his feet.

"We should go," Avalon said, once he was upright. "It's probably not a good idea to stay here. We don't have a lot of time."

Tommy gave her a sympathetic glance. "I'm sure Bailey's fine," he said to her. "She's strong, she can hold her own."

The orange ranger's right eyebrow slowly hiked upwards before she looked away. "I'm not worried about her, yeah?" She turned on her heel and started to walk away. "Trust me, mate, that's the least of my problems."


	9. The Great Power

**Chapter 09**

_The Great Power  
_

* * *

Ivan grinned as he watched the parent of Angel Grove continue to dig up the ectomorphicons. They were almost completely unburied, and before any of them knew it, the metallic beings would be up and ready to destroy the city once more. Sitting in his throne, he gripped the edges of his seat, a deep, icy hatred growing in his chest.

He had seen them, the purple ranger and her friends. He knew they didn't have their powers anymore and yet she was still trying to stop him. What was the point of that? Did she not realize there was no way they'd win? Not only would the other rangers not make it to the Great Power—it had never been done before—but she would be dead before they even returned to Earth. Right now it was just a cat and mouse game, something that was giving him a bit of entertainment before he finally had her found and killed.

And then there was Rita, Zedd, and that Sabrina girl back in the chambers of the Lunar Palace. He hadn't needed to go back down to the chambers after having instructed Scorpina and every now and then Goldar, to keep an eye on them. Those two gold monsters were his sniveling followers, blindly leading whomever it was that would take over the Lunar Palace. Even then, with Rito and Goldar by his side, he knew that Scorpina were giving those prisoners some sort of sadistic torture that Ivan would've sat back and watched with a bucket of popcorn on his lap.

It was all so entertaining.

Ivan looked over as Goldar started to walk towards him, his sword raised. Ivan smiled over at him, beady eye alight with fire. "Yes, my dear Golden friend, what is it that you have to tell me?" He asked.

Goldar motioned over towards the construction site. The flood lights had been illuminated as the natural sunlight had started to fade. That was what Ivan had been waiting for; nighttime. Nothing was better than the absence of light and watching how it managed to scare people so much. He, on the other hand, loved the dark and everything in it. The primal fear that tended to come from it was the greatest feeling and knowing that his plan was coming to fruition, with the rangers disappearing for days just made it that much sweeter.

"The construction of your ectomorphicons is now complete," Goldar said committedly. "All that needs to be done is for you to raise them once more."

"Ooh! What fun!" Ivan gripped the edge of his throne and stood up quickly, the breeze from the movement rustling his robes. Bringing a hand up to his chin, he glanced around at the parents of Angel Grove as they stood, staring lifelessly up at him. "Hmm…what should I do with all of these…cretins? It stands to means that their deaths have to be something pleasurable…what would be the most satisfying way to kill them?"

Goldar turned as Rito stalked up to Ivan, wildly swinging his word. "Why don't you let me have a crack at it, boss?" He asked. "I've had a craving for death and destruction since we destroyed the power rangers." He glanced at the men and women below them. "Reducing their bodies to bones…like mine…that would be very therapeutic."

"As interesting as that sounds, I think I might go with something else." Ivan waved him off. "We'll save that for later." He clapped his hands together before addressing the group. "Thank you so very much for finishing my ectomorphicons. But as it is, I am sick and tired of your ugly faces and your dull, dull personalities. I mean, you didn't even try to fight back or anything, just gave up your puny little minds and, frankly, that's just sad. So…I will you to go to the rock quarry…and leap to your demise."

Ivan, Rito, and Goldar watched as the parents of angel grove slowly turned and started to shuffle out of the construction site and Ivan watched with glee. Not only had he managed to take over the city quicker than he thought he would, but he had also managed to remove Zordon and the Power Rangers from existence. Now all he had to do was bring forth the ectomorphicons and start taking over the city.

"If I knew it would be this easy, I would've done it ages ago," Ivan murmured.

"What do you want us to do now, boss?" Rito asked.

Ivan cracked his knuckles, taking a deep breath. "Get to the highest part of the city...and watch the show."

* * *

Billy stepped over a log, being careful not to slow down his friends behind him. He had decided to stick to the front of the group, around Tommy, as they traversed the jungle. Not for the protection, Billy thought he had grown a lot as a ranger and a fighter as the years had gone by, but because he felt that he had moved into the second-in-command position since Jason had left. And with that position came a great sense of responsibility.

Even as they continued to walk through the jungle, every now and then Tommy and Billy have short, mumbled conversations about the courses of action they had taken while getting the Great Power—even Billy couldn't ignore the fact that Tommy appeared to be extremely worried about his decisions as a leader that had resulted in the destruction of their Thunder Zords, but it was also as a means to take his mind off things.

Despite having gotten to the point where he was able to rationally function as well as even get through his mother's death, there was still a part of him that worried he'd never get over it, if not anytime soon. Even when being out in the jungle of Phaedos and working hard to save Zordon and everyone back in Angel Grove, his thoughts always turned back towards the monsters that had murdered her in the means of taking him over just so that they'd be able to take over Angel Grove after having had invaded their school.

Having had to watch Ivan Ooze basically do the same to their zords, as he had come to know lately that their zord weren't just machines, but living creatures that had wanted to protect those that took on the power Zordon bestowed upon them, he wasn't sure he'd be able to take it if they didn't retrieve the Great Power and save the city.

Taking a deep breath, Billy pushed the thoughts out of his head. _It's scientifically sound that terms of affirmations have a chance of changing your mindset,_ he reminded himself. _Don't think about the things that happened or things that may go wrong…focus on winning and you'll do so._ And even then, it was easier said than done when he remembered it was his mother that had reminded him to try and always see the positive side of life. _So what's the positive side of what happened to you, Mom? That there were more people saved than lost?_

He was broken out of his thoughts, noticing that Tommy had started to slow down, now moving cautiously through the foliage in front of them. Pushing back a large leaf, the rangers moved through the underbrush. Rocky, being directly behind Billy, gasped as soon as he saw the Monolith that lay in front of them.

"Wow, hey guys, check this out," the red ranger called over his shoulder.

Billy's eyes widened in wonder as he looked around the area Dulcea had explained to them. He had been one of the people that believed that Atlantis was really hidden somewhere on the ocean floor and vowed to be one of the people that would find it, but the idea of that didn't compare to what was lying in front of him. The Monolith was reminiscent to the ruins that they had encountered when first arriving on Phaedos.

A giant rock wall stood in front of them, a waterfall off towards their left side, constantly cascading down into a pool below. On the wall in front of them were four statues and as Billy looked around, there didn't seem to be anyway around the wall. If they didn't receive the Great Power from there, there wouldn't be anything else they could do to save Angel Grove.

"Incredible," Adam said in a low murmur.

Billy nodded his sentiments, his natural curiosity starting to take over his mind. If he had the chance, he would love to be able to study the ruins, to see if there was anything that would give him and idea of what else the Nathadians had done, what their beliefs were, how their society worked. Not only that but to understand what it was that was keeping the Great Power, if it was there, sealed up.

"This would be so cool if it wasn't so ominous looking," Avalon remarked, looking around as well. She placed her hands on her hips as she came to a stop, eyes shifting back and forth as if watching insects buzzing around her face.

"Let's be honest here," Aisha said. "There's probably nothing as ominous looking at this." She looked over at Kimberly, who laughed quietly and nodded in agreement." The pink ranger went over to the waterfall and kneeled down by the pool. She went to take some water in the palm of her hand but Billy, who had watched her, hurried over and grabbed onto her wrist.

At her curious glance, he shook off her hand, droplets falling to the ground. "We don't know if this water is clean or not," he reminded her. Squinting, he looked up the face of the waterfall. "As it is, this might not even be the highest point of Phaedos, who knows what sort of intergalactic bacteria may be hiding in it." Kimberly gasped and quickly pulled her hand back, moving away from the water. "If only I had my lab equipment, I'd love to get a sample."

"Nice to know you priorities are straight, man," Rocky said to him.

"Well, there's a lot even a soil sample can tell us about this place," Billy pointed out. "How advanced the spread of vegetation is…things like that." He scratched his forehead as he turned back to the water, looking at his reflection. When did he become so hard? Shaking his head, he turned back as the white ranger moved closer to the monolith.

The rangers followed his lead, venturing to take a few steps towards it. "So what do you think?" Adam asked. "It doesn't look like its booby trapped or anything."

"I wouldn't count on it, mate," Avalon murmured, gently shaking her head. "There wouldn't be so many skeletons around if it was easy to get to the Great Power."

Tommy nodded at their words. He had thought the same thing. It was too easy for them to have gotten to the monolith and to the Great Power, there had to be something else… Taking a deep breath, the white ranger stepped forward. "Wait here," he instructed. "I'll go check it out."

Billy swallowed thickly, watching with the others as Tommy approached the monolith. He reached out a hand and brought his fingers down over the smooth surface, studying the rock. Then he waited a few seconds for something, anything to happen. Nothing. He turned back to the rangers with a light shrug and Billy's eyes shot by him and back towards the rock wall.

As he watched in disbelief, the rock statue started to move.

"Tommy!" Kimberly screamed out, warning her boyfriend of the imminent danger.

Hearing her cry, the white ranger whipped around just as the Gatekeeper statue came to life, metal plating covering some of its body and a large, deadly sword in its hand. Tommy took a few steps backwards as the sword ripped through the air in front of him, the Gate Keeper swinging his sword back and forth wildly. There was a distinct ripping sound and Tommy let out a cry of pain as drops of blood splattered against the cool, clay floor. Executing a perfect backflip, Tommy rejoined his friends, holding up the front of his robes.

Three massive cut had been ripped into his front, lined with blood. He hissed and fell to his knee, hands pressing against his front. The wound didn't seem to be that deep and with his adrenaline pumping he wasn't in much pain. Hands sliding over the blood, Tommy wiped his palms off on the sided of his outfit.

"Watch out," Billy cried grabbing onto Tommy's arm and pulling him back as the four Gate Keepers peeled themselves away from the wall and jumped to the floor.

"Told you," Avalon said, falling into a fighting stance, the other rangers doing the same. They all started to shift backwards as the Gate Keepers advanced upon them. They looked to be very strong, even stronger than the other monsters they faced and deadly, if judging by the gashes on the front of Tommy's clothes.

"What now?" Kim asked.

"Ninjetti," Tommy replied. "The Falcon!"

"The Tiger!"

"The Frog!"

"The Crane!"

"The Wolf!"

"The Bear!"

"The Ape!"

Aisha finished ducked out of the way as one of the Gate Keeper flew overhead, trying to strike her. , striking her pose. She rolled out of the way and the She rolled out of the way before the weapon could hit her. Using her newfound powers, she crouched low on the ground as the Gate Keeper kicked at her, and swung out her foot in a judo sweep, knocking it to the ground.

Adam leapt forward and did a spin kick against a Gate Keeper and struck it in the face. He cried out as pain went shooting up his foot and quickly backed away, partially limping. He watched in horror as the Gate Keeper continued upon him, not even fazed by the attack. "Whoa, these things are made of rock." Adam said just as the orange ranger leapt to Adam's side and brought her fist back, winding it up.

She drove her fist forward and cracked the Gate Keeper right in the face, using her ninjetti power of strength, causing it to fly back. She then squealed in pain, shaking out her hand. "I wish you told me that sooner," she snapped. She bent back out of the way as another Gate Keeper swung an ax towards her then used her legs to grab the Gate Keeper around the neck and fling it to the ground.

Billy steadied himself and kicked at the Gate Keeper that was in front of him. The Gate Keeper anticipated the move and grabbed onto Billy's foot and twisted it, sending him to the ground. There was a loud cracking sound and Billy shouted in pain, briefly closing his eyes. When he opened them, he spotted the Gate Keeper swinging its spiked weapon down towards his head and he quickly did a kick-up out of the way of the blow. Twisting around, he watched as the Gate Keeper advanced towards him once more. These guys are strong." Billy said. _We're going to have to try a different tactic to get rid of them._

Across the clearing, a Gate Keeper was attacking Kim. She would've been attacking back, even with the new power she had learned in her training, but something was wrong. She felt lightheaded and dizzy once more, just like when he had been forced to run from the skeleton monster. _What was it that Dulcea had said?_ She tried to remind herself. _The ninjetti power has always been inside us with our spirit animal?_ She couldn't make sense of it other than it having to do with her truly being weaker than the other rangers; they didn't appear to have the same problem and continued to fight just as hard as ever.

Snapping back to attention, Kimberly saw that the Gate Keeper was about to strike her and she did a quick back flip, landing on an edge a few feet above her. The Gate Keeper tried to stab her with its sword, but she leapt aside to avoid it, falling to the ground. Letting out a grunt, Kimberly saw star explode in front of her eyes. _You're stronger than this, Kim. You can do it._ And yet, she felt the energy draining from her. The ninjetti powers were taking away from her life force; she didn't have enough of her own power to keep it up.

Twisting around, she saw that the Gate Keeper had noticed her fall and had then come up behind her for the kill. It was almost upon her, crazily swinging the sword above its head, an almost evil laugh coming from it. Kimberly quickly got to her feet and started to run up the slope. She spotted a ledge above her and reached for the vine that rested along the outer edge, but it broke off in her hand.

The Gate Keeper swung his sword towards her and Kimberly started to roll to the side. She moved too slow, however, and received a blow to her shoulder. Her scream was muffled as she bit her lip, bringing her hand up to her shoulder. Feebly, Kim kicked at the Gate Keeper's chest, knocking it back a few steps. She got to her feet and continued to scramble up the rocks until she found a giant boulder and started to push on it. "Come on, Kim, you can do this." She pushed the rock with all her might but it just wouldn't budge.

The Gate Keeper swung at her but the sword cracked against the rock, causing her to scream and duck her head back once more.

Tommy, who had immediately soared high up onto the canopy as the fight started, noticed that his girlfriend was in trouble. Abandoning his search for an open spot to jump into the fight, he soared over to another three that was closest to him and grabbed onto a vine that hung nearby. "Just remember that you don't really have wings and crashing into the ground will hurt," he murmured to himself before backing up and leaping off the side of the branch, the vine swinging him forward.

Wind whistled by his ears as he soared over towards his girlfriend. "Hang on Kimberly!" He called. He landed cleanly on the rock ledge beside her and grabbed a nearby stick. "You can do this, I'll help you push," he said to her. Kimberly looked over at Tommy with a nod and started to push harder. Her combined effort with the leverage from the rock pushed the Gate Keeper down the slippery slope until it landed at the bottom, the boulder crushing it sending tiny piece of rock all over the place.

"Good job, Kim," Tommy congratulated her, watching the aftermath.

Trying to catch her breath, Kimberly could only nod.

Down below, Rocky was fighting one of the remaining Gate Keepers, backing away from it attack as it continued to converge upon him and he found himself at the edge of the pool beneath the waterfall. Hi arms flailed as he bent backwards out of the way of an attack from the Gate Keeper. The Gate Keeper roared and lunged forward, just as Aisha flew out of nowhere and kicked the Gate Keeper back away from Rocky. This gave the red ranger the chance to flip out of the corner and give the Gate Keeper a kick along the side of its face as well.

Aisha backed away from the Gate Keeper just as it turned to fight her and she stumbled on loose rock, falling over onto her back. In a second she was back up and rolling away to gain traction before kicking it with a cry of, "Back off bolder breath."

Rocky then noticed that Adam was in trouble and hurried to the closest vine he could find and used the powers from his training to scale up it in a matter of seconds. The black ranger continued to race along a rock wall a few feet from where Kimberly and Tommy had been, doing his best to keep the Gate Keeper from getting to him. Seeing that he had an opening, Adam dove forward between the Gate Keeper's legs.

Just as he got out of the way, Rocky, who had managed to get above the fighting duo, jumped off of the high cliff, hoping to land atop the Gate Keeper. But the Gate Keeper was just out of the red ranger's reach and Rocky rolled off the back of the Gate Keeper and towards the side of the cliff. At the last second the red ranger grabbed onto the vine to steady himself from falling.

"Adam!" Rocky called.

"Hang on, Rocky." Adam yelled back, fighting off the Gate Keeper.

Avalon twisted out of the way of the Gate Keeper that had come after her and spotted Rocky and Adam on the ledge. She raced off towards them, getting up the rocky cliffs in a matter of seconds. She raced up to the Gate Keeper and with a flying leap, kicked it in the back, giving Adam enough time to grab onto Rocky's wrists and start to pull him up from the ledge.

The Gate Keeper and the orange ranger spun around in circles as they traded and sneaked away from blows the two gave. She rolled forward in a somersault and when coming out of it, pressed her hands against a large rock in front of her and propelled herself backwards. Flipping in mid-air she kicked the Gate Keeper in the face, lashing out with her feet. Once landing the Gate Keeper swiped at her and she ducked out of the way, right into the Gate Keeper's grasp. It grabbed onto her and raised her over his head before throwing her, screaming, off of the face of the cliff.

"Av!" Rocky called, watching her fall.

Billy, who had teamed up with Aisha to fight off a Gate Keeper heard the yell and raced over towards his fallen friend. He kneeled down, arms out stretched, and caught her in his arms, carefully cradling her against his body. "Gotcha."

Avalon looked up at him with a smile he was sure was under her mask, gaze lingering for a moment. "Perfect timing as always, Billy," she remarked gratefully as he set her down. "Thanks." She finally looked away from him, eyes moving around the clearing. "There has to be something that'll get rid of these boofheads."

"We're just going to have to keep trying," Billy said.

With the Gate Keeper's attention on the orange ranger, Adam finally lifted Rocky back up onto the rock ledge. "Hey, Lava Head." Once the Gate Keeper turned towards the red and black rangers, the two did a spinning kick and knocked the Gate Keeper off of the ledge and into the pond below.

The two looked down, watching as a cloud of steam rose from the water below.

"If I knew it was going to be that easy, I would've taken the Gate Keeper for a swim with me," Rocky remarked, causing Adam to laugh. Then Rocky frowned, watching as Aisha was backed across the clearing, granted to be cornered against one of the back walls. He patted Adam on the shoulder before leaping down the rock wall towards her.

Aisha found she was trapped with no way out as the Gate Keeper continuously swung its ax at her, to giving her a chance to break free. She was backed up until she tucked herself inside a cave. Lowering her hands, Aisha pressed her hands against the walls, trying to take the time to catch her breath. Something smooth slid under her fingers and she turned to the side before jolting back in horror at the skeleton that had been shoved in there.

Seconds later rocks hit her face and she turned back in time to see the Gate Keeper poking its ax into the opening of the cave towards her. "Somebody help!" She yelled.

The red ranger sprinted across the clearing and kicked the Gate Keeper in its back, knocking it forward into the cave wall before it turned back in fury, eyes locked on the red ranger. It growled dangerously and Rocky quickly back flipped out of its reach.

He continued to do cartwheels and flips out of the way of the blows that were aimed for him until the Gate Keeper threw its ax towards him. Rocky's eyes widened as he saw the projectile coming towards him and quickly jumped as high as he could, spreading out his legs and pressing his feet against the trunks on either side of him. There was a whooshing sound and a 'thwack' and when Rocky looked down he paled at the site of the projectile embedded itself into the wood behind him, inches away from his groin.

The red ranger's shoulders slumped in relief. "That was close," he breathed.

Sensing an opening, Billy scaled up the rock ledge and jumped into the canopy. He found a large log suspended in the air with vines surrounding it and quickly jumped on. Glancing towards the ground he found Adam, Rocky, Avalon, and Aisha fighting off two of the remaining Gate Keepers. Looking around, the blue ranger spotted another vine and did a quick mental calculation of distance and angles and grabbed onto the end of one. He pulled hard and watched as the other end fell towards the Gate Keeper.

The Gate Keeper continued to attack Adam, trying to corner him. Avalon cart wheeled over and kicked the Gate Keeper, making it back up towards the vine. Adam noticed the vine at the same time and did a running start, jumped towards it as well. He landed on top of the Gate Keeper, crouching like a frog, and reached out, grabbing onto the vine. As the Gate Keeper thrashed underneath him, Adam pulled down the vine and tied it around the Gate Keeper's neck.

"Adam!" Billy caught the black ranger's attention and leaned back, his weight pulling him towards the ground. The black ranger quickly jumped out of the way and the orange ranger moved forward and brought her feet into the groin of the Gate Keeper, lifting it off its feet. The sudden movement combined with Billy's weight pulled the Gate Keeper into the air. It thrashed around, its weapon falling to the ground below, and pulled its hands up to its neck, trying to break free.

The Gate Keeper continued to twist back and forth until there was a loud cracking sound. Billy, Adam, and Avalon backed out of the way as they watched the body of the Gate Keeper plummet to the ground, its head still wrapped up in vines. Billy watched as the body hit the ground and cracked into piece with a sense of satisfaction. It was a rush, really, to be that strong, to have been able to defeat something in the similar manner his mother had been. It was cathartic in a way he hadn't have thought he would ever feel. _Now to get to Ivan, Rita, and Zedd._

With the remaining Gate Keeper, Aisha raced up to it and kicked it in the head. Rocky then kicked it backwards away from the group. High in the canopy, Tommy signaled over towards Kimberly, who waited for her signal, holding onto a vine. "Ready?"

"You got it." Kimberly nodded.

"Go!" Tommy yelled.

Kimberly jumped down from her place on the ledge and swung forward. When she hit the right height she let go of the vine and soared forward, striking the Gate Keeper in the chest. She then backed out of the way for Tommy to make the final move.

"Ninjetti Corkscrew Kick!" The white ranger leapt off of the ledge he had been standing on and soared over towards the Gate Keeper. Swinging his arms back, he brought them forward and started to spin in a tight circle, heading towards the Gate Keeper. He struck the Gate Keeper in the chest with so much force that it flew back and crashed into the wall behind it. "Eightball corner pocket."

The Gate Keeper exploded upon impact and a seismic ripple tore through the surrounding area, causing the rangers to stumble. As they watched, a large panel on the wall of the monolith opened, revealing a bright light.

"What now?" Rock asked..

"Whoa." Kimberly stumbled and fell to the ground but was pulled up by Avalon a few seconds later. "What's happening?"

"Look!" Billy regained his footing and pointed over towards the panel of the monolith as the light continued to get brighter and brighter. "

A pyramid shaped rock formation came out of the wall, bathed in the white light. In a large circle on the front of the monolith was a picture of a Falcon, Crane, Wolf, Tiger, Lion, Bear, Ape, and Frog all in formations of ferocity. The rangers watched in awe as the monolith continued to move towards them, slowing to a stop.

"The Great Power," Avalon breathed.

"The Sacred Animals." Billy said. He looked over at Tommy and the two nodded before leading the group to the monolith. "We have to focus on the power…for 20 triacs," he reminded them. The rangers nodded back and they all moved into a circle around the monolith and lifted their hands, pressing the palms of their hands together.

The power of their sacred animals, of the ninjetti power, ripped through their bodies. It grew in strength as the seconds passed and as the ranger watched, the light faded in the monolith, now coming from the front of the pyramid structure. It increased in brightness as wisps in different colors started to emanate from the light. The rangers continued to watch, lowering their arm as the wisps turned into the forms of the sacred animals and started to sweep around the respective ranger.

Finally, after a few moments of circling around, the images of the sacred animals shot towards the symbols on the animals on the front of their outfits, erupting the area in a bright light, causing the rangers to close their eyes. When the light faded, the rangers lowered their hands, finding they were now back in their suits, now holding the insignia of their sacred animals.

"We did it!" Aisha yelled.

"Our morphers are online," Billy said. He let out an incredulous laugh. They did it, they actually did it. They traversed to a distant planet in search for something that had been a myth and actually found it.

"We got the power!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Alright." Kimberly gave Tommy a high-five.

"Hang on Zordon," Rocky said.

"We're on our way," Adam added.

"Let's do this," Avalon said. She closed her hand around the lion power coin and placed it in the holster where her blade blaster sat, for safe keeping then, following her friends' lead touched her power morpher that hung off the front of her suit and teleported.

Now it was time to defeat Ivan.


	10. Dreams

**Chapter 10**

_Dreams_

* * *

Alpha had teleported Bailey, Fred, Bulk, and Skull Back to Ernie's and they watched in fascination and horror as kids and teenagers streamed in and out of the Youth Center and up and down the street. They screamed like banshees and caused havoc everywhere they went; swinging baseball bats and throwing things. Papers were strewn all over the street, windows and headlights on the cars were knocked out, some teenagers were fighting in the street, and little kids ran by with large pillow cases filled with numerous candies.

Bailey jumped back out of the way as a tall teenage boy raced by, spraying something out of the top of a can. Judging by its spray, it appeared to be soda, however as she leaned over and glanced at the wet spot on the ground, she realized it was, in fact, Ooze.

"Looks like Ivan's reaching out even further, yeah?" She remarked. "Not only did he have the Ooze in general as things kids would play with, seems like he's changed it to something he can ingest."

"No," Fred contradicted. "Not ingest, it still Ooze, you can't drink it. He just came up with different ways for people to come in contact with it. If it's loaded into a can like silly string, what better way for kids to get at it?" He shrugged before pulling off his hat and running a hand through his hair."

"Bulkie and I'll do our best to try and get some order around here," Skull said, patting Bulk on the shoulder. "Maybe once they see that some police officers are trying to keep the streets safe, they'll realize what idiots they're being."

"Yeah, hopefully they don't do too much more damage." Bulk pulled out his nightstick and started to head towards Ernie. He and Bulk blocked off Fred and Bailey to keep them from getting hit by the flying food and ooze that nearly hit them as soon as they stepped foot through the door. Their mouths dropped open as they saw the destruction that had befallen the youth center.

"I wonder where Ernie is," Bailey murmured, shaking her head. "If he saw what happened to his store…"

"Considering there doesn't seem to be _anyone_ that's trying to stop them, I'd think that he got stuck with some of that Ooze," Skull remarked. He looked over at Bulk and the two nodded before heading out into the fray for crowd control. Fred and Bailey watched as they pulled kids clinging to the support poles off and back onto the ground, handcuffed a few to chairs as they started to get a little bit too rowdy, and even Skull having gone as far as to tackle an unruly kid to the ground as he had started to spray a fire extinguisher around.

The purple ranger chewed her bottom lip as she looked around at the mess. There had to be something that would break them out of Ivan's control. There was always a weakness to something; it was just a matter of finding it. However at the present moment in time, it seemed that they were at a rave where the only thing that would break it up—the cops—wasn't working.

Fred glanced around at the mess, gently shaking his head. He tried to shout over them, waving his arms over his head as he did his best to get their attention. But the kids continued to run around, rampaging like they had never done before. The lack of mind control for the adults must have been a lack of inhibition seen in the kids under Ivan's spell. _As soon as the adults are gone, they can finally do everything they were never allowed to do before,_ he realized. Frustrated, he glanced over the group of kids before standing up on a table and shouting to try and get their attention. He turned back to the purple ranger. "It's not working; they're not listening to me!" He cried.

"Keep trying, Fred," Bailey shouted back. She lowered her head and placed her fingertips on her temples. _Think, Bailey, think. You're taking it in as a complex situation; break it down so that it's easier._ She switched gears, thinking about the situation chemically as opposed to situationally. _There's always something that will loosen the hold on chemical prospects. Nail polish and other adhesive substances can be removed by alcohol. Liquid stains are always able to me taken out of fabrics by the Bentinite which is a natural absorbent. The means of getting rid of chemical spills are…a chemical wash!_ She gasped loudly, eyes flying wide open as the revelation came to her.

Of course, how could she have not seen it before? Of course they didn't have an actual chemical wash, that would probably cause a lot of liability issues in the long run, but there had to be a fire alarm somewhere. The purple ranger spotted it on the wall and did a little jump before hurrying over to the far wall, lifting the glass that covered the emergency item and pulled.

A piercing siren blared seconds before the room was filled with a torrential downpour. The kids and teenagers all screamed and shrieked in surprise before covering their heads. The purple ranger watched as the ooze washed away from the kids and they seemed to be broken out of their spell. Grinning, Bailey turned and gave Fred a double thumbs up, which he returned with one of his own before whistling once more.

Now he had a captivated—albeit confused—audience at his feet.

"Listen," he called. "Everyone listen up!" He gestured around the Juice Bar, at the devastation that had been created while they had been under Ivan's control. "You all think this is some big party, don't you?" He rolled his eyes at the unanimous answer of affirmation. "Well you've all been brainwashed. Ivan's taking over the planet, and he's using all of us in his plans. And he's got our parents"

There was a low murmur that went around the room. Fred's eyes scanned over the faces of the kids that were in front of him. He couldn't get a good reading on whether or not they believed him. Some appeared skeptical while others appeared worried. They looked around the juice bar and down at their own hands as if they couldn't believe they would've done something like that.

However, one of the kids that Bulk had handcuffed to a chair loudly called out, "What are you talking about?" He shifted back and forth, trying to break free. "And why did you handcuff me? Let me go already!"

Skull shook his head, waving his nightstick at the guy. "Sorry, bud, we can't do that."

"Look, Ivan Ooze is evil," Fred continued. "And if you don't come with me _right now_ , our parents are going to die! Ivan has them under his trance, after doing their dirty work he's ordered them to jump off the cliff at the rock quarry." He exclaimed before groaning in frustration, noticing the increasing looks of disbelief on the faces in front of him. "You gotta believe me!"

"Hey!" Bailey hurried over to Fred's side. "He's telling the truth. Ivan Ooze, under the guise of that ooze that he gave you all earlier…he has some sort of magical powers that put you and our parents in a trance. And if we don't stop him, the city is going to be destroyed by his monsters."

"There's more monsters running around?" a girl called.

"This is Angel Grove, there're _always_ monsters running around," a guy called back.

Bailey shook her head. "This is different. The ectomorphicons have the means to completely destroy the city and if we don't go now—"She was cut off by a low quake rumbling through the room, nearly knocking her off her feet. Fred grabbed onto her arm and steadied her before jumping to the ground. The two blasted out of the Youth Center, followed by Bulk, Skull, and a group of kids.

She skidded to a stop, gasping, when she spotted a metal monster in the distance, walking through the city. It brought back an arm and swung it towards a building and the group watched, wincing as they heard the sound of glass cracking and dropping seconds before sirens started to wail, the familiar sound t the residents of Angel Grove who knew to follow the emergency evacuation plan as quickly as possible.

"You were telling the truth?" A kid asked.

"What about my Mom and Dad?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't panic!" Skull called loudly, voice drifting over the group of now panicked kids. "We have a plan." He turned to Bulk, Fred, and Bailey, lowering his voice. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"Sort of," Bailey fibbed. _Buy as much time for Tommy and the others to come back._ She cleared her throat. "First thing we're going to do is find the adults and stop them from going over the side of that quarry."

Fred nodded. "We'll take the monorail; it'll be the quickest way to get there." He turned back to Bulk and Skull. "Can you get us there in the cruiser?" Bulk gave him a pained look and pointed over towards the car that now had dents and fractures all along its body. The young boy grimaced and turned back to the purple ranger. "Looks like we're going to run."

"Looks like it." She looked at the group behind them and got ready to call towards them, then stopped, slowly smiling as she spotted an array of rainbow colors streaking across the sky towards downtown Angel Grove. They could hold off the monsters long enough so that they could find a way to save the adults. _Good luck, guys._

She waved a hand to the group and with her and Fred leading the charge, started to run towards the monorail.

* * *

Ivan stood on the balcony of the highest point of Angel Grove, the Needle Eye Watch Tower, one of the biggest tourist attractions of the city. He trailed his nails along the railing of the tower as he watched his Ectomorphicons start to destroy the city. He took in a long, deep breath through his nose, releasing it with an almost erotic sigh.

"I love the smell of destruction in the evening," he said in a slow murmur.

"Me too." Goldar said, laughing. He thrust his sword high into the air, cheering loudly as Scorpitron and Hornitor started their destruction. Rito stood in the back of the tower, watching the two but not saying anything otherwise, gently running his bony fingertips down along his bone sword. Even from where they were standing they could hear the sound of the scared Angel Grove residents screaming in fear.

Ivan took in another deep breath, but this time as he let it out, it turned into a cough of indignation when he spotted the multi-colored streaks zoom across the sky. His eyes were now ablaze with fury as he grabbed onto the railing of the tower. "NO!" He bellowed. "Impossible. The Great Power…it was a myth!" He yelled so loudly that Goldar shrank back away from him.

He had never seen anyone come to the viciousness that Zedd had always managed, but this was close. He turned his gaze to the colorful streaks as they landed on the ground far below and for the first time hoped they would win.

The rangers landed in the middle of the destroyed road. Shock and confusion graced their features as they looked around the destruction. Papers from the nearby office building fluttered in the light breeze, the area around them completely empty.

"Oh man," Tommy breathed. He gently shook his head as he looked around. "Look at this place!" He lifted his arms and dropped them back down to his sides.

"This is definitely Ivan's handy work," Rocky said.

"Looks like the emergency evacuation system went off without a hitch," Avalon added. "At least that's a good thing, yeah?"

Adam started to speak but was cut off as the ground suddenly shook, nearly knocking the rangers to the ground. He whipped around, trying to find the source of the noise, but didn't find anything. The ground shook once more, this time knocking them over.

"What was that?" Billy asked.

Aisha, kneeling on the ground, caught sight of the silvery, metallic monster and gaped at it with wide eyes, hidden behind her helmet. She lifted a hand and pointed. "I think were about to find out, look!"

The rangers followed her gaze and spotted a monster that resembled a Hornet moving towards them. The pincers by its mouth clanged open and shut, sending deafening booms in the air around them. It locked its eyes on the rangers and tilted it head to the side before leaning closer as if studying them.

"Whoa what is that thing?" Kimberly asked.

"Looks like Ivan's been busy while we were away." Tommy muttered.

"I think it's one of those ectomorphicon Zordon was talking about, Bro," Avalon said. Before any of the rangers could say anything else, Hornitor turned and shot a blast of laser like energy out towards a nearby car. The rangers shrank back, shielding their faces as the rush of fire streaked towards the sky in a brilliant plume.

Hearing another sound behind them, the rangers whipped around, spotting the companion ectomorphicon, Scorpitron. It scuttled along the ground for a few feet before shooting out a blast of laser like energy as well, but this one coming from its tail. It destroyed another car, causing the rangers to instinctively take a step back.

"Oh, this one's even uglier." Kimberly said.

Tommy nodded then turned to his friends. "We've gotta stop these things," he declared. "For Zordon and for Angel Grove. We went to Phaedos looking for something we didn't think existed, but now we have it. We've got the new Ninja Zords, let's use them."

"Right!" His friends replied.

"Ninja Crane Zord!"

"Ninja Wolf Zord!"

"Ninja Tiger Zord!"

"Ninja Frog Zord!"

"Ninja Ape Zord!"

"Ninja Bear Zord!"

"Ninja Falcon Zord!"

The rangers then grabbed onto their power morphers and held them out towards each other. Beams of light zoomed from the power coins that lay nestled inside the morphers and hot out towards the sky. The rangers watched as the light dissipated and the zords came out from their hiding places, answering the call for them.

As the zords passed by the watch tower, Ivan didn't appear concerned. In fact, compared to how angry he had been before, Ivan seemed to be taking a stroll in the park. He waved his hand, dismissing the situation as Goldar cried his fury of the zords being released. "No need to worry, Goldar. My ectomorphicons had destroyed many a race and planets. They'll crush the power rangers like little roaches, leaving behind multi-colored piles of spandex, gore, blood, and bone." He rubbed his hands together. "I can't wait."

Back on the ground, the rangers watched as their ninja zords approached then all leapt into the cockpits of their zords. Tommy piloted his zord low over the building of downtown Los Angeles and directed it towards Scorpitron. "All right guys, I'm over the east quadrant and heading straight for the scorpion," he explained. He pressed a few buttons in his control panel and flipped open the top of his joystick and pressed the red button sitting at the top. "Rockets away!"

The Flacon zord swung upwards and brought its wings together as rockets appeared at the wing tips. As Tommy pressed the button, the rockets engaged, flying out of the zord and shooting towards Scorpitron. The scorpion monster scuttled aside and towards the Scorpitron, barely hitting it. The Scorpitron then aimed its stinger towards Tommy and started to blast towards it. Tommy expertly maneuvered the zord out of the way while, below, Avalon's tiger zord started towards Scorpitron and lunged at it knocking it aside with a quick blast of its paw.

The blow knocked Scorpitron aside and as it fell, it blasted out another beam of energy that shot into the wing of Tommy's falcon zord. "I've been hit. I'm pulling out," Tommy said, pulling up and soaring out of the way. He passed by Adam as the frog zord jumped towards Avalon and Scorpitron.

"Sorry about that, Bro, I thought I had a good shot," Avalon quickly apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Sis," Tommy replied quickly. "You did good, great thinking on coming up on its other side." He soared out of the way to take stock of the damage on his zord and Adam moved to take his place.

"Frog Zord is on its way," Adam said. He searched through his control panel and grabbed onto a lever, pulling it hard. The mouth of the Frog Zord opened and a long whip shot out of its mouth, wrapping around Scorpitron's neck. Adam grinned as he watched the scorpion monster tried to pull back, feeling the strength through his hand holds and pulled back just as hard.

The two continued their game of tug-of-war for a bit before Adam soon grew tired and slammed his fist onto a button directly to his left. He watched as an electric wave shot up through the length of the whip and crashed into Scorpitron. It twisted back and forth for a moment, as if in pain and shot a blast of energy back towards Adam, hitting the frog zord directly in the face of the zord. The black ranger winced as the windshield cracked but still held.

"You're gonna pay for that one man," Adam murmured.

Billy hurried his zord from around a corner block and headed towards Scorpitron. Avalon's tiger zord had gotten back to its feet at that point and backed away as her sensors showed her that Billy was approached. The blue wolf zord slowly stalked towards Scorpitron as Adam continued to play tug-of-war. "Heads up, Adam. I'm loading hydraulics on the wolf zord," the blue ranger said. He then put his zord in front of Avalon's. "Hey, why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"Is that supposed to be a 'short' joke?" Avalon demanded.

Billy chuckled in reply. After a moment of loading the springs on the zord, Billy pulled back on his handhelds and the spring-loaded hind feet of the zord and shot towards Scorpitron. The wolf's teeth clamped down on the tail of the scorpion and he hung there, frantically shaking its head back and forth trying to break off the tail from the zord.

A few block away, Aisha converged upon Hornitor, taking it in her sights. She pressed a few buttons and loaded up the bear zord, bringing it to its hind feet. "Time to boogie with the bear," she murmured. The zord landed back on its feet and raced forward, crashing into Hornitor, causing it to stumble back. The bear zord then backed up and came up on its hind legs once more, swinging its paw at Hornitor's face.

Hornitor made a squeaking sound and turned back to the bear zord, practically glaring at it. As the bear zord stood on its hind legs, the bellow exposed, Hornitor shot a blast towards its stomach. The yellow ranger let out a gasp of surprise as the shockwave of the blast knocked her back into her seat. The bear zord flew off its feet and crashed into a building behind her before falling over. "I've been hit hard," he called.

"Hang on, 'Sha, I'm on my way," Rocky replied. He directed the Ape zord to scale the side of a building so that he could get a greater vantage point from the top. Once he arrived at the roof he peered over the edge and watched as Aisha continued to bravely fight off the hornet monster. "Ape Zord locked on target," Rocky said. He made sure that the crosshairs on his screen held onto Hornitor before leaping below and landing on Hornitor's back. The hornet monster started to twist back and forth, trying to knock him off, giving Aisha the opening to get back to her feet. She maneuvered the bear zord around and started to attack with straight blows from its paws and a few shots from its teeth as well.

Kimberly in her Crane zord decided to straight for their target, Ivan and zoomed up towards the watch tower. Her upper lip curled in disgust as she spotted Ivan watching the fight along with Goldar and Rito, two of the three monsters that had destroyed their zords, their Command Center, and gravely hurt Zordon all in one fell swoop. They weren't going down without a fight.

"Alright guys, I got a lock on the Oozeman," She told her friends, soaring through the skies as quick as lightning. She headed directly towards Ivan and got her zord ready to send out canon blasts towards him.

Ivan smirked as he looked up towards the skies, watching the pink ranger approach. He slowly ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. "Ah, here comes the cute little pink ranger to the rescue," he drawled, almost maliciously.

Goldar glanced at him then snorted before crossing his arms. "She's already spoken for," he commented. Ivan gave him a curious glance. "Zedd has a dibs on her, plans…"

Ivan sucked in a deep breath, chest rising ominously. "Do you see Zedd here? That pulsating mutant isn't in charge anymore, I am! And if you don't know what's good for you, you'll end up with the rest of them!" He turned back to Rito, who continued to watch the two quietly. "Do you hear that?"

Rito merely glared back at him.

Ivan turned and glared back at the pink ranger, his scowl deepening. He lifted his hand and shot a bolt of electricity out at her, and her Crane zord immediately stopped short, not moving forward nor backwards. Ivan started to laugh evilly as the zord continued to freeze in mid-air. He moved his hand back and forth and the Crane zord followed it. Inside the cockpit, the pink ranger was slammed back and forth as her zord was flung around.

She pulled hard on the joystick in front of her but found that she couldn't move the zord in the ways she wanted to. "Ooze has me in some electromagnet deadlock, I can't break free!" She cried, already starting to panic.

"Hang on Kimberly!" Tommy's voice came over the speakers.

She continued to struggle with control over the zord, trying to block out the sound of Ivan's cruel laughter. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the temperature inside the zord rapidly increased. Warning bells and klaxons started to go off inside her Zord. Ivan was burning her form the inside out! "I'm burning up in here!" she yelled.

Now the yellow ranger's voice came over the speakers via the communication system. "Kimberly use your thrusters!"

A wave of relief crashed over Kimberly and she nodded, regaining control. "Right, right," she said. She let out a deep breath and started to press buttons along the unfamiliar face of the Crane zord. "Now which button?" All of a sudden she heard the Crane's cry from deep inside her. Not a cry of sadness or despair, but one that made Kimberly feel she could do anything she put her mind to. An image of the correct button appeared in her head and the pink ranger smiled. _Thanks Crane zord,_ she thought before pressing it firmly.

Kimberly was slammed back in her seat as the thrusters on her zord kicked on and she was shot forward, out of Ivan's grasp and through the sky.

"Blast it!" Ivan growled, lowering his hand. He watched as the rangers continued to fight his ectomorphicons, a scary thought entering his head.

The rangers might actually win.

Adam's hands trembled as he held onto the control for the frog zord as hard as he could. Scorpitron was putting up a better fight than he thought was possible. Billy, on the other hand felt he was about to puke at any moment as Scorpitron continued to lash its tail back and forth. However, he knew if he let go of the monster it would give the ectomorphicon the better chance to get at Adam. It was the extra weight holding the ectomorphicon back that was doing his best to get to the frog zord.

Billy let out a cry of surprise as he suddenly felt weightless. And as the streets of Angel Grove whizzed by, he came aware that the tail of Scorpitron had finally broke apart and he went flying back away from the ectomorphicon. His zord suddenly came to a stop before falling heavily to its side. It was then nudged back to his feet by the tiger zord.

"You okay?" Avalon called.

"I'm good," Billy replied. "Thanks, Ava."

"No worries."

"I'm losing my grip, I can't hold on much longer," Adam said.

"Disengage!" Tommy directed. "I'm coming back in to try again." He flew over the top of Scorpitron and readied his zord to fire off the rockets once more. Avalon came up on the other side of Scorpitron and the tiger zord's tail moved straight up and created a canon at the tip of the tail.

"Fire!" Tommy cried and the two zords shot out their weapons and it crashed into Scorpitron, immediately incinerating it.

The rangers cheered as steaming piles of metal crashed to the ground around them, what was left of the Scorpitron ectomorphicon. The white ranger grinned behind his helmet as he slowly brought his zord over towards the remaining; Hornitor. "Good job, guys," Tommy said appreciatively as he landed on the ground. Now let's go get the other one."

He and the rangers arrived just as Hornitor knocked Rocky off his back and sent him scraping against the ground. The bear zord stood atop of the ape zord, shielding it as Hornitor moved closer towards them.

Ivan glared down at the rangers as he watched the flames subside. No. Not again. He wasn't going to allow himself to be defeated again. He only just got resurrected; he couldn't be taken back down that easily. "Those power brats are going to wish they never met me. The last color they shall see is purple as I rule over this God forsaken world!" His growl was suddenly transformed into a scream of fury as blinding pain seared through his back.

He fell to his knees and turned around to see Rito standing behind him, still holding onto the handle of his sword, the other side shoved straight through Ivan's shoulder. Dark purple ooze dripped from the wound and as Ivan twisted towards him, pain continued to twist into the wound.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded.

Rito's empty eye sockets glared at Ivan with the coldest, utmost fury. "Doing what I should've done when you first took over."

Ivan lifted his free hand and shot a blast of electricity at Rito and caught him straight in the chest, knocking him backwards. The movement caused the sword to be pulled back out of the wound, causing Ivan to scream in pain once more. The purple monster fell to his hands and knees and took a few deep breaths, trying to work through it. He turned towards Goldar.

"Do you have anything to add?"

The golden monster shook his head.

"Good!" Ivan lowered his head and started to stretch himself down from the tower and into Hornitor. As the seconds massed, the ectomorphicon grew bigger, taking on Ivan's body. Finally, Hornitor stood straight up, towering over the ranger and their zords. Hornitor's face was replaced with Ivan's and he glanced at the rangers before tearing off the watch tower he, Goldar, and Rito had occupied before and spun it in his hands.

He couldn't care less about the monsters that may nor may not still be on the tower. No, he just needed to get rid of the rangers. He slowly started to walk towards the ranger, stepping on and breaking the monorail track as he did so.

"Uh, I don't like the looks of this," Rocky stated.

"Neither do I," Tommy agreed. "We need Ninja Megazord Power, now!"

"Ninja Megazord, Power Up!"

"Guys, The monorails in trouble, I'll complete the sequence later," Tommy said before flying off.

"Go Tommy, we can take care of Ivan," Kimberly replied to her boyfriend, his absence immediately putting her in the second-in-command position.

The Crane, Wolf, Bear, Ape, Tiger, and Frog zords combined to create the Ninja Megazord. "Ninja Battle mode, now!" The six said in unison. "Power Sword, now!"

The power sword appeared in the Ninja Megazord's hand just as Ivan raced forward and slashed at them with his own weapon.

* * *

Bailey followed Fred, leaping over the abandoned turntable of the monorail and climbed into the first car of the monorail with Bulk and Skull following close behind. All the kids are running, trying to go save their parents.

Fred looked over the control over the monorail, chewing his lower lip, before pressing the button that seemed that it would be the button that would get the monorail started. He let out a breath of relief when the monorail slowly started forward, pulling out of the station. As the monorail continued one, the group looked out the windows, watching as the rangers fought Ivan.

"What is that thing?" A kid asked.

"Who cares? The power rangers are here to help."

 _I hope they can do it,_ Bailey thought. _We don't have much time left._ She turned back towards the monorail track and squinted her eyes as she looked further down the track. There was something off with it and when she saw a spark of electricity, she immediately knew what it was. "The track's broken!" She gasped. "Ivan must've knocked it out while trying to get to the rangers." Before she could start to panic, she heard the sound of a Falcon screech as a shadow zoomed over the windows.

"Look!" Skull pointed.

The group watched as the falcon zord flew overhead, heading straight for the monorail. "It's Tommy," Bailey murmured to Fred, Bulk, and Skull, who all nodded, watching in reply. The falcon zord laid down on the tracks in a perfect connection of the monorail and the train smoothly went overhead.

"Good luck," Tommy said.

Bailey heard him through the Communicator she still held on her wrist and she turned to the side, bringing it up to her mouth. "Thanks Bro, we've got it covered," she replied. They rode the monorail down to the rock quarry and quickly climbed off the train, racing towards the site. Bailey breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the adults still moving slowly towards the edge of the cliff. She looked around, hoping to find something that would keep the adults back long enough to give them time to stop them.

"Hey guys?" Bulk's call grabbed their attention and the two young kids hurried over to the two police officers as they pointed down a side of the cliff. "Do you think we could use some of that?" Fred glanced over down the side and looked at the fire truck that sat below.

"Bonzer!" Bailey clasped her hands together. "That's perfect."

"You guys try to stop them," He called to the group of kids that watched the adults with fear. He paused, spotting Ernie and Lt. Stone in the crowd near his father. Swallowing thickly, he looked over a Bailey who had noticed the same thing.

The purple ranger put on a brave face and nodded off the kids before turning back to Bulk and Skull. "We have to get down there and we have to get down there now! The fire truck should have a means of a water pump on board as well as a ladder that will extend us up here if there aren't any keys we can use."

"You got it, boss!" Bulk agreed, giving her a salute before the four hurried down the side of the rock face and towards the bottom of the quarry. The water had receded far enough to show off the sharp and jagged rocks that lay below. If any of the adults went over the edge…

 _Don't think about it, Bay,_ she reminded herself. _Focus on the task at hand. Remember what Dad always said, no outside thoughts or you'll put yourself in even more danger._ The four carefully made it to the bottom and looked over the fire truck.

Skull immediately leapt into the front seat and looked over the controls. There were no keys that would be used to get the truck started but that was no problem. Not only did he have a lot of time on his hands after having been kicked out of school, but he had always been interested in mechanics and automobiles, restoring some cars back from the proverbial dead. There wasn't any sort of automobile he couldn't hotwire. Leaning over, he reached underneath the dashboard and pulled out the wires from underneath the steering column and looked through them. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a set of keys and snapped it through two of the wires. With the insides exposed, he pressed them together and the truck roared to life.

"Great job, buddy!" Bulk hollered at him.

"Nice one, Skull," Bailey added as she, Fred, and Bulk climbed into the cabin of the car. "Drive it over there! Get it as close to the cliff as you can." Fred leaned forward and watched as little rocks started to fall from the lip of the cliff and below. He held his breath, watching as the heels of some of the kids started to come into view as well as their backs. "Hurry!"

Skull drove the fire truck forward, as close to the cliff as he could and stopped it. Bulk immediately got out of the cabin of the truck and opened a panel on the side. "I got the ladder here," he instructed, pointing upwards. "There's a pump at the top, you two get up there and I'll direct you towards the group. If water was what had gotten the kids to come to their senses, maybe the stronger blow from this water pump will knock back the parents."

Nodding, Fred and the purple ranger scrambled up to the top of the ladder with a lift from Bulk and held on to the sides as tightly as possible as the ladder slowly directed their ways over towards the cliff. Once they were at the right height, Fred turned back to Bulk, cupping a hand around his mouth. "Turn it on!"

Bulk nodded and released the lever of the water pump and Fred and Bailey reached out and grabbed onto the nozzle at the front. A jolt shook through the front of the hose as the water came flying out towards the large group that slowly continued to shuffle towards the edge.

Gritting her teeth, Bailey held on tight to the hose and maneuvered it back and forth, showering them with water. There didn't seem to be any change at first, causing Bailey's heart to leap up and cram into her throat when she spotted Erie, Mitch, and Lt. Stone getting closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. _Come on…come on…_

There was another jolt through the nozzle of the hose and the water started to spray out harder and faster and then she saw that the group was starting to backup, shaking off the effect of the Ooze over them. The water didn't stop until every last adult and kid were pushed back far enough away from the edge.

"Yes!" Bailey cheered as Fred threw his hands up in the air. The kids started to scream and cheer as they grabbed onto their parents and hugged them tightly.

"Do you see my Dad?" Fred looked around the group having lost sight of his father. He frowned, leaning back and forth as he looked for his father. Finally, the purple ranger tapped him on the arm and pointed towards the side. Fred grinned and cupped his hands over his mouth "Dad!" he called.

Mitch caught his son's eye and grinned before hurrying over to the two as the ladder was slowly lowered enough that they could get back on solid ground. When Mitch reached the two young kids he wrapped the two of them in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you two are okay," he said to them, drawing back. "What happened? Last thing I remember, I was messing with your ooze."

"It's a long story, Dad," Fred responded.

"A very long story, mate," Bailey agreed, still grinning. "But things'll come good." She looked up as there was the sound of an explosion. "The power rangers have everything under control." She looked over at Fred and the two shared a smile.

"If that's the case, we should get out of here, just in case things start to come this way," Mitch suggested. His idea must've been heard for the group started to leave the area. Bailey waited to be sure that Bulk and Skull made their way up from the bottom of the quarry and gave them a hug.

"Great job guys," she said to them. "And thank you. Fred and I…we couldn't have done this without you two."

"It was our pleasure," Bulk replied.

"Yeah, what he said," Skull agreed. He looked towards the horizon where the rangers continued to fight against Zordon. "Now, what are you going to do?"

"I'll figure something out," Bailey said. "First, let's make sure everyone is out of here."

* * *

Kimberly let out a grunt of pain as she was flung to the side in her seat, the arm crashing right into her ribs as Ivan swung a heavy blow their way. She winced and closed her eyes as bright colored flecks shot by the window.

"The Power Sword has been destroyed." Aisha told her friends.

"Micro pressures dropping," Billy said as he looked over the scales and charts on the screens in front of him. He frantically pushed a few buttons that were by them. "Negative zone." There was another rattle that blasted through the Megazord as Ivan, now having blasted away their power sword, moved close and picked them up over his head.

"Brace yourselves," Rocky cried. "We're gonna hit hard."

"Let's see if you guys have the power of flight," Ivan said with a light laugh. He reared the Megazord back over his head and heaved them forward. The Megazord soared through the air and crashed through a high rise building, landing hard on the other side.

"All systems are down," Billy said as the lights inside the Megazord started to flicker.

"He's closing in." Adam said.

Ivan started to walk towards the rangers but stopped when he spotted the steam of adults running away from the rock quarry in the distance. He growled in frustration, no, none of his plan had worked. Then he noticed the purple ranger at the back of the group with Bulk and Skull. His eyes stayed transfixed up on her. "Blast that girl!" He rasped as wings slid out of his back. "I'm going to squish her like a grape!"

He took off into the air and headed over towards the rock quarry.

"Where's he going? "Adam called.

"He's going after Bay," Avalon replied. "I'm sorry guys, I gotta disengage."

"You go do that, Av, we'll take care of Ivan," Kimberly said. She then turned to the communication system and yelled for her boyfriend. "Tommy! Get your ass down here, now!"

"Falcon zord coming in to complete the sequence," Tommy said, the falcon zord flying overhead just as Avalon's tiger zord disengaged from the Megazord and raced after Ivan. "Ninja Falcon Mega Zord!" As the Falcon zord landed on top of the Megazord and completed his portion of the docking sequence. "Alright guys, let's get Ooze out of here before he destroys everything." Tommy told his friends.

Avalon raced the tiger zord after Ivan as he reached the rock quarry. Hearing the sound of the quakes getting louder, the purple ranger twisted around and watched with wide eye as Ivan headed her way. She stumbled back and fell on the ground as Ivan landed in front of her, glaring down at her. He kneeled down and towered over her as she stared back up at him.

"BAY!" Fred turned back towards her but Bulk grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder, continuing to carry him out of the area. "What're you doing? We have to help her!"

"She'll be fine, Fred, don't worry," Skull reassured him.

"Now I'll finally have at least one of you rangers out of my hair," Ivan said, bringing a hand up to his eyes. "And I'm glad that I can start with you. This'll teach you for stealing my color…ruining my plans." He sent out a bolt of energy towards her.

Bailey squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, waiting for the pain to hit her.

"Tiger Token!"

The purple ranger opened her eyes and watched as Avalon leapt in front of her sister with a large orange and black shield—reminiscent of her former Stega Shield—held up in front of her. The blast bounced harmlessly off of the shield and shot away. Ivan growled as he sat back.

"Av!" Bailey cried, scrambling up into a sitting position. "Boy am I glad to see you."

"I can say the same," Avalon replied. She reached into the holster of her blaster and pulled out a small, gold coin, handing it over to her sister. "I think you're going to need this." Bailey grinned and held onto it, a purple wave of electricity moving over her body.

"It's morphin' time!" She called. "Purple Ranger Power!"

She morphed into her reconfigured suit and the two stood up in front of Ivan as he started up another blast of energy towards them. The orange and purple ranger backed up as far as they could go, waiting for the blast. Avalon steadied her shield up in front of them, waiting for him to make his move.

Then, all of a sudden, the Ninja Megazord came flying overhead with the hands cupping around the orange and purple rangers, fending off the blow that Ivan sent their way. One the smoke cleared, the Megazord pulled back from the two girls.

"Are you guys Okay?" Aisha asked.

"Better than," Bailey replied. "Just getting started. Ninja Lion Zord!" As Avalon leapt back into the cockpit of her zord, the purple lion zord came out of its hiding place and Bailey went into the cockpit, with Bailey shooting off missiles from the mane of the lion zord that struck Ivan, before the two connected back with the Ninja Megazord. "So what have I missed?"

"Nothing other than getting our asses handed to us," Adam said. "We were just thinking of getting out of here, even the playing field a bit."

"Got it," Bailey agreed. "I'll set a course for space."

"I'll get the coordinates," Billy said.

"Let's do it."

The rangers piloted the Ninja Megazord out towards space as Ivan quickly followed after him. At first the rangers were afraid the zord wouldn't continue to hold as they went through the different atmospheres but soon they would amongst the stars. Something caught Billy's eye and he slowly smiled, watching as Hailey's comet zoomed around space. It was to be over Earth in a few days, that's what had been the means of keeping the observatory open.

"Guys, I think I know a way to get rid of Ivan," Billy said.

"Really, how?" Adam asked.

"Hailey's Comet! We get Ivan in the Comet's path and make sure that he can't get out of it in time, and before we know it, the trajectory and speed will be too much for him to handle."

"Got it," Tommy agreed. "Activating main thrusters." The Ninja Megazord zoomed towards Hailey's comet, turning around and watching as Ivan followed closely behind him. His face was a grotesque mask of fury as he zoomed towards them, hell-bent on destroying the power rangers after having had everything gone wrong for them. When he got close enough, they powered up the thrusters once more and rocketed upwards as Ivan kept going.

The Ninja Megazord turned around and faced Ivan. "Ninja Megazord Charge!" They cried and shot towards Ivan at blinding speeds, crashing into him and propelling him back into Hailey's comet, imploding upon impact.

The rangers cheered once they saw that Ivan had been destroyed and Tommy quickly regained control of the Megazord once more. "All right, now to get back to Zordon."

"And hurry," Bailey agreed.

* * *

The Command Center was dark, silent, and as Alpha continued to look down at his fallen friend, he let out little sniffles every now and then. He looked over as there was a surging sound and spotted the rangers teleporting into the Command Center.

With a brief feeling of excitement, he turned from Zordon and hurried over to the rangers as they took off their helmet. "Alpha," Bailey called, hurrying over to her friend and grabbed onto him. "Is everything alright?"

"Rangers, you made it!" Alpha cried happily seeing that the teens had managed to get the Great Power and defeat Ivan. He slowly lowered his head, sadness creeping over him once more. "But I'm afraid you're too late." He turned back towards the remnants of Zordon's tube and watched as the rangers hurried over to it, not wanting to believe the news.

But as they looked down at the still, gray person in front of them, they knew it to be true.

Zordon of Eltar was dead.

"Too late?" Billy asked. He had a hard time believing it, despite seeing Zordon lying quietly in front of him. Images of his mother filled his head and he dropped his helmet with a loud clatter, turning and punching a fist into the wall. "No!" Avalon looked over at him with tears in her eyes that she wouldn't allow to fall. She bent down into a squatting position and held her hands over her face, stealthily wiping away the tears before reaching out a hand and placing it on Billy's wrist and squeezing tightly.

"This can't be happening." Kimberly said with tears in her eyes.

Aisha whimpered and buried her face into Rocky's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Bailey brushed away the tears that fell down her cheeks, but continued to hold a brave face the best she could. Adam put his arm around her shoulder, gently rubbing her arm.

Tommy clenched his hands into fists as he looked down at Zordon. No, all of their work wouldn't be for nothing. Zordon wasn't going to go, not like this. Not when he had so many people on his side. Suddenly Tommy realized something, remembering what Dulcea had said to them back on Phaedos. "Remember what we learned? To those who possess the great power, all things are possible." His friends looked at him in disbelief. "We have to try."

Then, following his lead, the rangers surrounded what was left of Zordon's power tube and raised their hands, pressing their palms together. Closing their eyes, they concentrated hard on the power inside them, just as they had when they were acquiring the great power from the Nathadian Monolith. A bright light shone from their chest plates and shot towards the center, coming together in a great ball of light, growing brighter and brighter as the seconds passed.

Alpha watched as the light continued to grow and the Command Center started to correct itself, fixing everything that had been broken, reconfiguring more and more as the seconds passed. Once the Command Center had been fixed, the light shone over Zordon, slowly engulfing him.

And to the rangers' surprise, Zordon's eyes flew open and he let out an almighty gasp. They watched in awe as the Command Center became fully restored, the last to come together being Zordon's tube. He opened his eyes, the mentor looking down at the color friends in front of him.

"Zordon!"

"Rangers!" He replied.

"We did it!" Bailey cheered before grabbing onto Alpha's hands and the two started to jump up and down in unison.

"He's alive, he's alive, he's alive!" Alpha cried out in happiness.

"We thought that you…" Kimberly trailed off as Tommy reached over and wiped away her tears. She didn't need to finish her sentence; they all knew what she was going to say. They had thought the same. But here he was, smiling in front of them once more.

"It is good to see you again too." Zordon told them, smiling like a proud father. "Rangers…you have done what others had failed to do, you brought the Great Power back and defeated Ivan Ooze once and for all. The Nathadians, the Order of the Meledon, Dulcea, myself, and all of Earth thank you for everything you've done."

"It's the least we can do, Zordon," Rocky said.

"Yeah, you've helped us and stood by us all these years, we couldn't give up on you," Tommy agreed.

Zordon smiled warmly.

* * *

The rangers walked along the boardwalk through the celebratory party that had been thrown as the city of Angel Grove had been saved by the power rangers once more as well as to celebrate the Grand re-opening of the Observatory. Despite the destruction of Hailey's comet, the observatory had a new life that had been given to them and there was always something more to see.

 _Besides,_ Avalon thought. _There might be some more Ooze up there to look at._ She smiled to herself at her little joke and Aisha and Kimberly, who were walking on either side of her with their arms linked together noticed and stopped.

"What's that smile for, girl?" Aisha asked.

"Nothing." The orange ranger shrugged. "Just…for once I'm really happy."

"I think I know why." Kimberly gave a sly smile before leaning over so that the yellow ranger could see her. The orange ranger watched with a suspicious glance. "Back when we had saved Zordon in the Command Center, I saw this one and a certain blue ranger getting a bit cozy." Avalon made a noise of protest as Aisha's eyes lit up. "They didn't stop holding hands the whole time they were there and don't try to deny it. You like him don't you?" Avalon opened her mouth to say her piece but was betrayed by the flush of crimson that slid up her cheeks. "I knew it!"

She and Aisha cheered, giving each other a high-five as Avalon dropped her arms from theirs. "Are you lot done analyzing my personal life to death?"

"Not really," Aisha said. "We,"—she motioned between herself and Kimberly—"always knew you liked him. I mean, he's always protect you in battle—"

"You sure you're not getting us mixed up with Tommy and Kim?" Avalon asked, ignoring Kimberly's indignant gasp. She smirked. "I mean, if I didn't hear her shouting Tommy's name so much, I might think she was actually starting to go crazy."

On the outside, Kimberly laughed along with her girl friends, looping her arms back through theirs as they continued to follow the guys as they walked a few feet in front of them. But on the inside, she took that comment to heart. She knew Avalon didn't mean it to be mean in a personal way, she was just kidding around, but it reminded her of how badly she had done against the skeleton monster and the Gate Keepers. She was weak, even with her new powers it wasn't something that kept her at the same level as her friends.

She was broken out of her thoughts as Rocky turned around and called back to the girls, "hey, are you guys hungry?"

"We're not but I'm sure you are, Rocko," Aisha called back as the girls hurried and caught up to the boys, falling in step with them. She rubbed her hands together. "So, where do you want to eat?"

"How about that place right off the pier?" Tommy suggested. "Seafood and a great view over the water."

Kimberly thought of protesting but her stomach growled loudly. They hadn't eaten much since being on Phaedos and she had fought a lot, she deserved this. Smiling up at her boyfriend, she looped her arm around his waist and leaned into him. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too," Rocky concurred.

"I don't think we had a probability of you not liking the idea, Rocky," Billy said, causing the group to laugh once more.

"Cool. It's over here." Adam directed the group to the seafood restaurant and got a table for the group on the outside patio. Sitting down around the table, Billy frowned when he noticed the pink and yellow rangers cast him a sly glance as he settled into his chair next to Avalon.

"Uh, what are they looking at?" He asked his best friend.

"Nothing, mate," Avalon said shortly, her cheek blossoming once more. "Absolutely nothing." His eyes narrowed for a moment but then he caught sight of the redness on her cheeks and smiled to himself as he stretched out in his seat.

"I don't know, I think there's plenty to see."

Avalon rolled her eyes and made a show of lifting her menu and covering her face, missing the laughter from all of her friends around them. They ordered their food and just had it delivered to their table, ready to start eating when Fred and Bailey arrived at their table. Prizes from carnival games were draped over their shoulders as well as their faces being painted.

"Hey guys," Fred greeted them.

"Hey," Bailey echoed.

"Hey Fred," Tommy said, doing his handshake with the boy before ruffling Bailey's hair. "What's up?"

"You guys look like you've to quite a haul," Rocky added, looking over their prizes. "I hope you saved some for the rest of us." The purple ranger shrugged and beamed, appearing just as happy as her sister was.

"So rumor has it that you're quite the hero, Fred," Kimberly spoke up, flashing him a bright smile. Fred exchanged a glance with Bailey and shook his head.

"Thanks, but it wasn't just me. Bay and Bulk and Skull helped out a lot, too. Without them…we wouldn't have been able to get anything done. Besides, the power rangers did most of the work." He bit back a smirk.

Tommy shook his head. "Things got tough, you didn't panic. You my friend demonstrated true bravery."

Now Fred was enjoying the attention that was put on him. "It's like what you taught me about martial arts; use your head, and above all, stay calm." Fred said

"I heard you're in line to be a ranger yourself one of these days." Aisha said to Fred, making everyone at the table smile.

"Nah, that's impossible." Fred denied. Bailey made a snorting sound and gently bumped Fred on the shoulder, giving him a warning look. He ignored her. "You really think so?" Fred asked. "Cause I was thinking of being either the silver or gold ranger. I just hope that Zordon has enough space at the Command Center for me."

Now the rangers all froze as they ate and Bailey looked up at the sky, making sure she didn't catch anyone's gaze. Billy, on the other hand, immediately recognized the tactic out of his co-technical advisor and leaned towards her. "Hey Bay," he said to her. "How does he know about the Command Center and Zordon?"

All eyes turned to the purple ranger and she grimaced. "Well, about that—"she started but was cut off by the sound of fireworks going off behind them. Twisting around, the rangers watched as fireworks started to go off over the water. "Cool!" She and Fred chorused as they jumped up onto the railing to see.

The rangers got out of their chair and went to the railing to watch the fireworks as well. Noticing that the shortest ranger was the last to get to the railing, Billy held his hand out towards Avalon and she gave him a grateful smile as she took it allowed herself to be pulled up to stand on the railing next to her sister and Fred.

As the fireworks continued to explode overhead in rainbows of colors, Avalon tilted her head back and looked towards the sky. There were so many things she knew she was going to have to face now, thing she hoped the other rangers wouldn't find out about before she had a chance to work them out for herself. But everything with her mother, father, Dana, and the other thing…everything she had been anxious about returning to as they returned from Phaedos didn't matter in that moment.

All that mattered was that Zordon was back, Ivan was destroyed, and they had saved the world another time.

As she tucked some loose hair behind her ear, the orange ranger caught Billy's eye and he smiled at her. She smiled back at him before noticing a serious expression sliding onto his face. He leaned forward for a second, hesitated, and then leaned forward completely, pressing his lips gently against hers to which she shyly responded to.

And for the rest of that night, the rangers basked in another job well done and knowing that no matter what came their way they were going to face it together.


	11. Revenge Plan

**Chapter 11**

_Revenge Plan_

* * *

Zedd growled as he looked down over Earth. It sickened him, just sickened him how humiliating everything had been. I van Ooze had taken over the Lunar Palace so easily…to the point where it was like he and Rita had never existed, as if they were play things to the intergalactic monster.

That _damned_ monster that had managed to imprison him and Rita within a matter of seconds after having been released from his prison. And the chambers were terrible; the worst conditions Zedd had ever been in. And he had made those conditions for his prisoners from the other planets they had managed to conquer. He had been the one to decide what sort of torture and pain to inflict upon those that ended up there and it had made him smile and grin like a little kid that just had a basket of candy handed to him.

And then to be sent down there himself…to have his concubines see him when he was supposed to be scary, strong, and dominating over the Lunar Palace…in some ways he owed his release to the Power Rangers and that made everything worse. Once Ivan was defeated, Goldar and Rito had gone back to the Lunar Palace and released Rita, Zedd, and Sabrina, sending Sabrina back down to Earth and out of their sight. Now that they had Scorpina around permanently, they wouldn't need her anymore. Not that the rangers would have her much longer either, something told him that she would be too traumatized by the events.

Especially after he had gotten through with her…

Zedd stood up and went back to the caves underneath the main part of the palace, going towards his chamber. He heard the moans and screams of his captives and that brought a small sense of thrilling excitement through his body. They were still fearful of him and that was all he needed at the moment.

No, what he needed was a plan.

A plan for the ultimate revenge, to show that he wasn't going to allow anyone to run over him. But what? What was it that would finally show Angel Grove and Earth that he wasn't someone so easily defeated and to be taken lightly? He couldn't just storm down and start to enslave people, he would probably have their military all over them in a matter of second, not only that, but the Power Rangers wouldn't allow that lying down.

There had to be something.

_Anything._

"What are you so angry about?" Rita's voice screeched across their bed chamber in that annoyingly grating way that always had him want to shove his Z-scepter down his throat. "You're like an overgrown nightlight, stop glowing like that!"

"I'm sorry, dear, but I always get angry when I think about the times I've been wronged," he replied. He stalked across the room to her perch as she sat on a bench by the window, a large book of spells in her lap. He shoved it aside, knocking it to the floor before sitting down next to her. "I'm not going to allow ourselves to fail again. We _have_ to come up with a plan that will either decimate the entire Earth or have the residents of Angel Grove reduced to dust, the power rangers included. Whichever comes first."

"Zeddy, use Rito," Rita said to her husband. She gave a light roll of his eyes. "I mean, he was the one that burned down our house and reduced _himself_ to bone. I think he'll be a powerful foe against the power rangers."

"What else can he do?"

"He was one of the monsters that destroyed the power rangers' power! He had delivered the last blow that caused the zords to fall apart. He is someone that we can really use on our team. And after he continues to break down the rangers, then we can go in and enslave the Earth."

"That was before they got the Great Power from Dulcea," Zedd rumbled. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That had been Ivan's ultimate downfall; the Great Power. And now that the rangers have it…we need something big that'll stand up to it." He paused. "Or steal it for ourselves."

Rita blinked at him. "Steal it?" She sounded skeptical. "And how do you plan on doing that? Just go up to them and ask for it?"

"No, we're going to steal it from them," Zedd continued. "If we take the powers from them, find a way to take control of their zords, _something_!" He clenched his hand into a fist, starting to glow once more. "If we can do that…we'll find a way to finally destroy them. But I like your idea of using Rito. He helped in the destruction of the rangers; of Ivan…we can really use him."

Yes.

The gears were already turning his head for the perfect plan that would finally get rid of the rangers. It would be the plan that would start his destruction of the entire universe and he'd save Zordon for last. Ivan may have killed him once before, but the mentor had managed to come back to life.

This time, Zedd was sure Zordon would be on his knees, begging for mercy.

But mercy wasn't in Zedd's vocabulary and he vowed that, unlike Ivan, he would give Zordon a slow and utterly painful death.

* * *

Avalon let out a heavy sigh, brushing her hair off her forehead as she twisted her sketchbook to the side. For a long moment she stared at the drawing she had been working on, scrutinizing its flaws and weak spots. It wasn't working. Despite the fact that she had her muse, a bouquet of flowers, sitting in front of her it just wasn't right. Maybe because they were some of the last bit of flowers left over from the funeral, she wasn't surprised there were still people dropping by to pay their condolences; Lacey had been a prominent figure at the university as well as in the science world in general.

Pushing her book aside, she rested her chin in her hands, staring at the flowers in front of her. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her mother, not after having had gotten back in touch with her after all the years they had been apart. They weren't 'back to normal' by any means, but the thought still devastated her. It made her think about Dana, actually. Not only had their father, Captain Mitchell, kept the secret from her that he had another family, but she had also lost her mother when she was young as well as her older brother who, as far as the orange ranger knew, she didn't know about.

 _Talk about taking things for granted,_ she thought. For a long time she had been angry at her mother for leaving her, without knowing the whole story, and now that everything was out in the open…she always felt guilty about it.

"If you stare at those flowers any longer, I'm sure they'll burst into flames," David Cranston commented from across the room. Avalon smiled as she pushed the vase away from her and turned to address the blue ranger's father. He had been sitting quietly on the couch, reading the newspaper, though she wasn't sure he had actually been reading it.

It was the same newspaper from the weekend before and he continuously scanned over it as if he couldn't get enough of the news that the power rangers had saved the world and the observatory. Thankfully he hadn't gotten under control of Ivan's ooze, as he had explained that he evacuated as soon as the alarms had gone off. However he was still haunted over his wife and despite having gone back to work, whenever he was at home he would zero in on the newspaper and focus on that, shut himself in his office, or in his room. He was getting better…but as Avalon knew, it would take a while before things were _actually_ better.

"You have no idea," Avalon called back, hiding a smile. If she still had her powers to manipulate fire it wouldn't been reduced to a pile of ash the second it appeared at the house. She understood the help and condolences that were being given, however it seemed to be hurting more than helping.

"Where's Billy?"

"He went out to get the mail."

"Okay." David sat on the couch, silent for a long moment, and then started to fold up the paper. The orange ranger watched in dismay as he made sure that each page was meticulously arranged in the overall cover of the paper before he folded it at the crease, the photo of the power rangers on the front page. He stared down it silently before carefully setting it aside and getting to his feet.

He had made it as far as the hallway before the front door opened and Billy walked back through the door, holding onto a large stack of mail. David smiled at his son before going up the stairs and disappearing into his office. The blue ranger watched his father until he disappeared from sight, then went into the kitchen, slowing when he spotted Avalon at the counter.

She turned towards him and gave him a shy smile, which was quite unlike her, before taking her sketchbook and moving it back in front of her to start drawing once more. Things weren't awkward between each other since they kissed, not really. It was just they hadn't had the chance to say anything, because they hadn't wanted to bring it up around David. Not only because they weren't sure how he would react to it, but because they had needed their own time to think about it.

Avalon did anyway, not only had she not dated in a long time, but because there were so many things she hadn't told him about her past, the things she had done…she didn't want him to get scared away or judge her when she did finally decide to tell him. As a matter of fact, knowing that Chase was still contacting her, not knowing what to do with that information, and still not telling any of the other rangers was giving her more anxiety than she had anticipated.

"Hey," Billy said to her.

"Hey."

He hesitantly crossed the kitchen to the other side of the counter and sat down on the stool across from her. "Can we talk?"

"Of course."

Billy took a deep breath before resting his hands on the counter, twiddling his thumbs. "Considering what happened last week, I don't want you think that…what happened wasn't enjoyable. I just wasn't sure how to go on from there, especially after what happened with Trini and how she left and how her parents didn't like me. So I was hoping that we'd be able to—"

"Whoa! Hang on a tick!" Avalon held up her hands and waved them in front of Billy's face, effectively getting him to stop. "Geez, Smurf, take a breath before you _really_ turn blue, yeah?" He half-smile as she lowered her hands to her lap. "I get what you mean," she said. "I wasn't sure where to go from what happened, either, because…well, I wasn't sure if it was just the ambiance of the party and everything but…" she lowered her head, a flush erupting on her cheeks once more. "If I said that was all it was, I'd be lying. I've liked you for a while, Billy…I just didn't want to say anything because of Trini and because of the things I've gone through…"

Billy nodded. "That's understandable." He shuffled his feet.

"And, of course, there's your Dad," Avalon continued. "And that I wouldn't be sure if I could date you because I live here—"

"I'm not your foster brother, Ava," he reminded her.

"Thank God," she said bluntly. "Because that would've really sucked, though I think dating in secret would've been kind of fun." Her accompanying wicked smile caused the blue ranger to laugh. Avalon then realized what she had said and tilted her head to the side. "Are we? Dating I mean?"

Billy looked at her for a long moment. "You know what's funny? You're usually so…open and straightforward with what you want. But now…"

 _I figured that was going to come up at some point._ She really did pride herself on being someone that was always straightforward about what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how she wanted it. She had a means of usually getting her way, could be called manipulative, and would even admit that she had a tendency to be particular about it. But something like this…she had opened herself up to someone before, a lot of people, and in the end was always the one that was hurt and had to pick up the pieces and despite knowing Billy would never do something like that—he had proven it from sticking with Trini despite what her parents had to say—she still couldn't help but worry.

"I've had my heart broken before. From a lot of different people that I thought would be constant fixtures in my life. And I don't want—"

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't think you will. I'm afraid I might hurt you," she admitted. Billy blinked, eyebrows rising in surprise. "Not only because of being a ranger and the danger that comes with that, but because of everything that comes with…my past and everything. There are some things I don't think I'll ever tell you, or feel like I can tell you without wondering if I'll be judged by it. And it'll take a bit for me to get to the point where I will tell you those things, yeah, but I can't help but worry."

"You don't have to worry about me," Billy reminded her. He reached out and grabbed onto her hand. "If Rita and Zedd haven't managed to do it at this point, I don't think anything else will. And…if you'd like to go…I was wondering if you'd want to go to the observatory with me."

Finally, Avalon beamed and started to kick her leg back and forth, like a little kid. "I'd like that! I mean, we won't be able to see Hailey's comet, but I'm sure there's plenty of other things out there we can check out."

"Good." Billy smiled and picked up the mail, starting to sort through it. "Because I already bought the tickets."

The orange ranger's laughter faded as she said, "What about your Dad?"

The blue ranger paused for a moment, eyebrows knitting together. It was as they had said before; he wasn't hers or Bailey's foster brother so that there was no rule of them going out. But there was still telling him that they were dating, while living under the same roof, and then there was the ever present thought of how he would feel as the love of his life had been taken away. Billy hoped by that point that David would've been able to return to the vibrant man he had always know. But something had broken inside the blue ranger's father and it was going to take everything for it to be fixed.

"I'll talk to him," he promised. Shifting a magazine aside he picked up an envelope and glanced at the name on the front before handing it over to the orange ranger. "Mail for you. It doesn't look to have a return address."

Avalon's heart dropped. She knew it was from Chase. While his earlier letters had come with the stamp mark from jail, he had grown accustomed to using his contacts that he still had while he was waiting trial. The last couple of letters came with no post mark, meaning they were usually hand delivered to the mailbox if not to the front porch. There had to be someone from the Vipers, if not another person he knew. And that worried her the most. She took the envelope and scanned the front, trying to discern the handwriting, only noting that it wasn't Chase's.

She just hoped Billy hadn't noticed.

"Must be from Oz," she explained quickly. "I try to explain it to my friends and everything, but I guess they don't seem to get it." She closed her sketchbook and hopped down from her stool, pushing it in. "As a matter of fact, if I'm going to send back a letter, I'm going to need more stamps. So I'm just going to run to the post office and then we can meet the other at the movie theatre."

"Sure thing," Billy said. "I was going to check out our new zords and test their abilities at the Command Center." He lifted his communicator and pressed a button before teleporting out in a bright flash of blue light. The orange ranger made sure he was gone before she grabbed her copy of the house key and slipped out of the front door.

Tucking the letter into her back pocket, the orange ranger hugged her arms to her chest as she started down the street at a quick pace. "Okay, don't panic. Don't panic. All you have to do is call the jail and make sure he hasn't been in contact with anyone on the outside. Most of the Vipers are inside anyway, yeah? And no one's managed to find Summer or Skye. As soon as Chase goes on trial, then you can tell everyone everything." She paused, letting out a deep breath. "If that doesn't take too long.

She continued walking at a quick pace, head bent low as she went. Her doc martens clomped along on the ground as she went, echoing the beating of her heart. But as she continued she suddenly started to slow down. Had she heard something? Turning to look over her shoulder, she found there was no one behind her. When she turned back, she stopped short, eyes widening at the faces that stood in front of her.

At first she hadn't recognized Skye and Summer, they had changed their appearances drastically. Skye had grown a mustache and beard as well as having grown out his hair a little bit longer while Summer, who was already thin, had lost some more weight, giving her face a gaunt look and changed her hair color from a beautiful blonde to a deep auburn color.

The two smiled at her and Skye lifted his chin, eyes moving down. "Watcha got there?"

It was then that Avalon noticed Summer had a switchblade in her hand, the handle covered by her hand, the point directed towards Avalon's chest. The orange ranger reacted quickly and jumped backwards as Summer lunged forward, trying to slash her along the front. The orange ranger spun on her heel and charged across the street, the two following after her. She continued to run through the alleyway, taking sharp corners and throwing trash cans and debris behind her as she went. Periodically, she would check over her shoulder and find the two still on her heels.

Not close enough to grab her, but closer than she had ever anticipated for a long time.

Coming close to a dead-end, Avalon found a stack of trash cans on the left side of the alleyway and a fire escape on the right, with the ladder high off the ground. Thinking quickly, she leapt atop the trash cans and bounced off the top, pressing one foot against the wall to aid her distance and grabbed onto the bottom of the ladder and swung herself up and on top of the fire escape.

"Damn!" Skye kicked at a nearby trash can.

Summer pointed at her and brought her finger across her throat before the two left the alleyway, leaving Avalon to collapse against the wall behind her, trying to catch her breath.


	12. Strange Happenings

**Chapter 12**

_Strange Happenings_

* * *

One thing that Dana Mitchell wasn't was stupid. Not only did she excel in math and science, everything that would bring her to her ultimate dream of becoming a doctor, but in nearly everything she tried. She had a lot of friends, a great social life, and if it wasn't for that fact that her father had a tendency to be a bit strict with her, she would say that her life was perfect.

That was, until she had found that her father was hiding something from her. There was no way for her to question that she was being left out of something. She remembered having trying to question her father about it the last time he had taken some time off of work. He had managed to skillfully avoid the question and randomly decided to take her to school. Not only had the offer to take her to school was strange, she usually had to drive herself, but the conversation had been even weirder.

What was going on with the monsters in Angel Grove that he really had to focus on? His job was only supposed to have them in Australia for a couple of years, but they had been there, from Mariner Bay, longer than he had originally said. And while they were getting ready to head back to the California city within the next year, she couldn't help but think back to that conversation.

Monsters and evacuation processes that continued to run rampant throughout Angel Grove and they were to move back to the city that was only a few hours away? What was going to keep the monsters away? And why had they wasted so much time in Australia if all of the work was going to be done in Mariner Bay. She so had decided to snoop and see what it as that her father was really doing. He waited until he had disappeared into his bedroom after a hard day and work and snuck into his office.

The easiest part was finding Angela Fairweather's phone number and calling it asking the young woman for some of the folders that she had seen her father constantly bring to and from work. It was the one thing that he brought back and forth and she knew it was important if he hadn't allowed it to stay locked in his office overnight. At first Angela had been hesitant to bring the folders to Dana, but the blonde had quickly reassured her that her father had wanted the files and he was just too sick to get up and get it for himself.

Being on such the low end of the totem pole at her place of work and not wanting to disappoint her boss, Angela made quick work of getting into his office and getting the files, bringing them to the Mitchell residence as quickly as possible. After Dana had thanked Angela for the files, she quickly went to her room and locked the door behind her; ignoring the fact her father would become very irate at the locked door.

That's where everything had spilled out in front of her.

"Okay, Dad…what is it that you're hiding," she whispered before reaching out and opening the folder.

The first thing she found was a multitude of health forms. Not only were they forms she had never seen before, but they had to do with different things she was sure she nor her father ever had. Allergies to strawberries, asthma, allergies to cut grass, chicken pox at five years old, intense intelligence. As far as she as concerned, she was smart, but wouldn't ever be considered intensely intelligent. Those findings gave her pause before she started to move through the other files in the folders.

Court documents.

Official documents she couldn't make sense of.

Signatures on papers she had trouble deciphering what they meant.

Copies of checks filled out to an Ellie Harwood.

"What is all this stuff?" Dana murmured, brushing her hair over her ear. Her eyes narrowed a little as she continued with her works. Pages and pages were turned as she continued to dive deeper and deeper into the information that was spit at her. It wasn't until she was halfway through that she found the photographs of two brunette girls.

Picking up a photo she examined it closely, the elder girl appeared to be about her age, with long dark brown hair and eyes, face set into a serene expression as she sat atop concrete steps. Sitting below her was a younger brunette girl, hair just as long as the first, but with glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. Her smile was a bit shyer, not unlike the one Dana usually had for those around her.

 _Who are they?_ Putting down the photograph, she started o look through others that had been stacked with it. Pictures of the girls growing up through life; as infants, toddlers, little girls…there was an obvious age different between the two but the girls didn't appear to be irritated by the fact, as most of the pictures were taken of them together.

Those pictures continued on and as Dana moved through them, she suddenly felt a sense of recognition. There was something familiar about the girls, but she couldn't quite put her fingers on it. She had never met them before, that she knew for sure, and yet it was like she had known them her entire life. Even when she got to the end of the stack of pictures, finding the two girls now with a large group of friends that were about the age of the older girl. On a whim, Dana turned the picture around and frowned when she spotted the words written at the top:

_Angel Grove '93, Avalon, Bailey, Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha._

"Angel Grove?" Dana slowly lowered the picture. _That's what Dad was talking about…his work that would help keep monsters away…_ Glancing over her shoulder; Dana glanced at the picture of her and her father that sat on her bedside table. The two were smiling warmly in the picture, that's what she had always seen. But now looking at it, she could see how happy _she_ looked, how warmly _she_ smiled, but now that she was studying it more, she could see that her father wasn't smiling as brightly. His muscles and cheeks were turned up in a bright smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

In fact he looked tired, defeated, as if he were being haunted by something.

Turning back to the papers in front of her, Dana flipped to one of the last pages that had caught her by so much surprise that she gasped loudly and dropped the folder to the floor. And even as papers and photographs scattered she worked hard to decipher the words that were typed onto the top of the sheets of paper. Her blood ran cold and her heart dropped.

Once again she was startled by two knocks on her bedroom door, which was customary for Captain Mitchell to do when he was about to enter Dana's room, but then it was accompanied by the sound of the doorknob turning and becoming stuck. The knob rattled for a few moments before there was another knock on the door and when Captain Mitchell spoke, she heard the stern tone.

"Dana, you know I don't allow locked doors."

"…" At the moment, Dana didn't really care what he allowed. Everything she had known about him had been a lie. All of it. What else was there that she didn't know? Was she _really_ her father? Did her mother pass the way he said she had? Was he really working to try and keep Mariner Bay safe or did he take up a second job as some sort of private investigator as the documents led her to believe. She didn't care. He was a liar and that was it.

"Dana! Open this door, now!"

Dana slowly got to her feet and much like a zombie, walked over towards the rattling wood. Reaching out, she slowly unlocked the door and took a few steps backwards as she opened it. Captain Mitchell looked down at her with a tight expression on his face before his eyes shifted to the documents that gently wafted in the breeze created by Dana's overhead fan.

Then the expression on his face completely changed and he let out a long sigh. Dana watched as his face briefly turned pale and he reached up, running a hand over his face, stopping above his chin. And as the seconds passed she expected him to make some sort of excuse, to break out into laughter, to tell her she was wrong. _Anything_ but just stand there in silence.

"It's true?" She whispered, eyes slowly growing wide as she stared at her father. Captain Mitchell glanced at her once more before looking away. "Daddy…is it true?"

"Dana, I—"

"I don't want any excuses," Dana snapped. She knew she was overstepping her boundaries with the way she was speaking to her father, the sudden slackness of his jaw, allowing his mouth to drop open slightly told her that. "I just want a 'yes' or a 'no'…are you…do you…" She trailed off before turning back to the paper on the ground, pointing at it.

The words _Birth Certificate_ on two separate documents were what initially threw her and were the ones that had landed face up were they had fallen. Dana could barely stand reading her father's name listed amongst Avalon's and Bailey's, or Cadence and Abigail, or whatever their names were. To see her father's names on those certificates…to know the truth when it had been hanging over her head for so long. There were things that made sense now…he wasn't always there, always had to go on trips of all of a sudden. He was very closed off with relationship with her mother, didn't talk much about things that had happened to them in the past and only lived in the moment and the future. He had such strict rules for her and the way they lived at home, granted due to his job in the government. But the discipline, the expectations that were placed upon her…maybe it was a way for him to keep his past away from her.

And now she knew why.

"Is it true?" She asked again.

Captain Mitchell lowered his hand from his mouth and nodded as he cleared his throat. "Yes, it's true," he confirmed. "Avalon and Bailey…they're my daughters."

Dana's jaw dropped. It was different seeing the information out in front of her but hearing it actually confirmed…she felt sick. Groping for her bed, Dana's knees gave out and she slumped toward the floor. _How? Why? When?_ Her mouth formed the questions but they wouldn't gain any traction to punch the air between them. It'd make things even more real than they already were. _He has two other daughters…two other children he never told me about…_ Then, slowly raising her eyes, Dana stared at her father as she was struck with the harsh reality. "Mom…" she breathed. "You cheated on Mom?"

Captain Mitchell let out another breath before crossing the room and kneeling down in front of his daughter. She didn't push her away that was a good sign. Nevertheless, he made sure he didn't get too close in case she started to swing at him. "It's complicated, Dana," he said slowly, gauging her reaction. "Your mother…she was very sick."

"But that didn't mean you had to go and cheat on her," Dana whispered, head still down.

"She didn't want me to continue life, watching her waste away," Captain Mitchell explained.

He remembered that day exactly. Not only had she not wanted him to continue and sit around, waiting for her to pass, but she hadn't wanted the kids around her as well, afraid for them to see her when she was that sick, when she wasn't her fullest. There was still the chance she could make a full recovery, but that chance was slim and she expected the worse. Captain Mitchell still remembered the way she had held his hand the last day she had been alive.

She had continued to tell him to take himself and the kids home so that they could get some rest. He had leaned over and gave her a hug and a kiss and as he started to pull away, she held tightly onto his hand. A grasp that was more than just a lover's touch, one that said goodbye. He hadn't thought of it that way until the next morning when he had gotten the call that she had passed.

"She didn't want _you_ to see her wasting away. And even then, I didn't want you to be there, in general, considering how scary things like that are for young children."

"But that was my mom!"

"I know that, Dana, and I made the decision that I thought was the best one for us as time went on." He reached out and grabbed onto her hands. "Please listen to me," he pleaded. "I did what I thought was best. Things were hard for all of us at the time and your mother asked me to keep you away from it."

"But what does that have to do with them?" Dana viciously stabbed at the photos that lay scattered around the room. "What does that have to do with you having two other children? Why didn't I know about this, Dad?"

"Because I wasn't sure how you would react to it," Captain Mitchell said. "How am I supposed to tell you that your mother didn't want me to be stuck…and I made a mistake. I've made a lot of mistakes, Dana, I'm not perfect. But you're punishing me for something that I've been punished enough for! Do you think I can continue to keep going through life _knowing_ that there're things that I can't take back?"

Dana shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. That's not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that he was sorry, the explanation behind everything, who Avalon and Bailey really were and why she had never heard of them. But he kept turning it back towards how _he_ felt, what decisions _he_ made, what her mother wanted _him_ to do.

Did her feelings not matter?

"Get out." She started to gather the documents together and push them back into his folder. He hadn't even asked where she had gotten everything, just went straight to excuses. "I don't want to see this anymore. Get out."

"Dana." Captain Mitchell placed his hand on her shoulders and his heart dropped when he felt her shaking. He didn't expect her to be as upset as she was…he didn't expect her to do anything; it wasn't the time that he wanted her to know. In fact, if he could do it all over again, he would've told her about them as early as possible.

He would've done a lot of things differently, but there was no way to go back in time and he couldn't pretend like nothing happened.

"Please, honey, will you listen to me?" He pleaded.

Dana froze for a second; this wasn't the 'Captain' that she answered to speaking, but her father. The way he had called her honey, they only spoke in such informal tones when the time called for it. Otherwise everything ran nearly as professionally as they did when he was at work. This wasn't a part of him that she was used to and it scared her even more.

Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she finished gathering the documents into the folder and shoved them at her father. "Get out!" She cried, shoving him. "I don't…I don't want to talk right now. Please, just go away."

She turned and flopped onto her bed, burying her face into her arms as she let out a wail. Captain Mitchell sighed as he took the folder and got to his feet.

Hopefully, soon, they would all see that what he had done…had been done because he thought it was right.

* * *

"Alright guys, I have a disturbance in the park, who wants to take it?"

Lt. Stone looked back and forth over his class of police officer candidates and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that none of them raised their hands. Even Bulk and Skull lowered themselves in their seats, trying not to be noticed. Tilting his head to the side, Lt. Stone scratched at his neck as the seconds passed by.

"Listen, I know a lot of strange things happened over the past couple of weeks in Angel Grove, there's _always_ going to be strange things going on," he explained. "And even though some of the tasks, like checking out the disturbance in the park, may be mundane, but it's still something that we, as officers, need to do. It shows not only that we care about this city and our residents, but that we would do anything for it."

Skull crossed his legs at the ankle and tried his best not to meet Lt. Stone's gaze, on his right he could see Bulk was doing the same. Not that they didn't want to do as much as they could to make sure they graduated from the police academy, but _because_ they wanted to graduate from the police academy. When everyone that had been affected by Ivan's Ooze came out from underneath the monster's spell, he and Bulk had quickly taken Lt. Stone aside and explained everything that had gone on.

At first, Lt. Stone hadn't been so forthcoming about congratulations to the two young men, but after having heard the news come from anonymous tips later—though the two were very sure they knew who it was—they got the recognition they had deserved…and then it started to spread around. Not only had they been the ones to help the power rangers, but had a great part in who banded together the kids of Angel Grove to help save the adults of the city. No matter where they went Bulk and Skull found they were being treated as hometown heroes and as much as they were glad that people were starting to realize they weren't the bullies they had been years before and it was unnerving.

They had wanted to be treated like the mature men they were now becoming, and as soon as it came on a city-wide scale, they weren't even sure they wanted it anymore.

Even then, Skull could tell there were some people that started to look back at him and Bulk to see if they would volunteer to go. Skull slid down even lower in his seat and brought a hand up to scratch his forehead, hoping to cover his face. _Don't pick me, don't pick me_ he thought. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Bulk cleared his throat before lifting his hand into the air.

"I'll go, sir," he offered.

"What are you doing?" Skull hissed towards him.

Bulk lowered his hand. "Look, I know that all of the attention we're getting isn't really what we wanted, but it's not going to go away just because we want it to."

Skull bobbed his head back and forth as he thought about what Bulk had said. In many ways he had become a bit bitter at the attention, not only because he knew years before if anyone had told people that he and Bulk would've been ones that would help save the world they would've been laughed at, but because he now understood why the power rangers wore the helmets to conceal their identities all the time.

"But this is what we've wanted to do, to become police officers to serve and protect Angel Grove and it's like Lt. Stone said, not everything is an exciting job."

Skull let out a deep breath before raising his hand into the air, to go along with Bulk. "Bulkmeier and Skullovitch, glad to see you two are getting into the spirit of volunteering," Lt. Stone said. He clasped his hands together behind his back, taking a sweeping glance over the other students in the class. "The rest of you will continue to try and beat your times in a time trial on the obstacle course instead." The corner of his lips turned up as a collective groan came over the class. "Lt. Andrews will be there to time you as you try to achieve your PR. Skullovitch, Bulkmeier and I will head out to the park."

Bulk and Skull got up from their table and fell into the stream of cadets leaving the classroom. While their classmates filed out towards the right, heading out the back of the building towards the obstacle course, Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone went to the right towards the front of the building. They climbed into the back of Lt. Stone's cruiser and headed towards Angel Grove Park. Once they arrived, they started to walk a slow perimeter around the park, trying to appear inconspicuous as they headed towards the area that the call had been come from.

Finally, they had made it to the portion of the park the call had come from. Skull placed his hands on his hips as he looked around trash littered the ground, graffiti was sprayed all over the concrete path and the tunnel that lead from the park. As the three approached, he could see a female figure standing underneath the overpass with a spray paint can in her hand, a cigarette dangling from the fingertips of the other. As she brought the cigarette to her mouth, turning towards the footsteps that came her way, Skull's eyes widened.

"Sharky?" He asked, immediately recognizing the young woman. He looked over at Bulk and saw his eyes had widened with recognition as well. Lt. Stone noticed the confusion from the two, but continued towards her.

"What's going on here?" He asked her.

Sharky let out a sigh, a long stream of smoke protruding from her mouth. "Just sprucing up the place a little bit," she murmured.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Lt. Stone continued. He glanced at Bulk and Skull for a moment before walking towards her and taking the spray can from her. He then reached up and plucked the cigarette from her hand and tossed it to the ground, crushing it under his feet. "Your ID please?"

Sharky rummaged through her pockets and handed it over to Lt. Stone, continuing to appear as if she didn't have a care in the world. Even as she had her ID looked over, she took out another cigarette and lit it, blowing the smoke into his face. Lt. Stone cast her an annoyed glance before walking back over towards Bulk and Skull, motioning for them to go over to him.

"I need to run this through the system, see if there's anything that's come up lately," he explained and then gave them a long look. "Though considering you two know her, I'm sure there might be something that might come up. Do you want to warn me before it does?"

Bulk thought for a moment. "Sharky used to hang out with us in school," he explained. "For a little while, then I think her parents shipped her out to stay with her Aunt and Uncle because she left. Probably because of all of the trouble we had been getting into."

"Trouble?"

Skull then took up the conversation. "It wasn't anything bad at that point," he reassured his boss. "Not anything we'd be kicked out over, not yet. Just things to pick on the other students. Blow spitballs, start food fights, a little bit of taunting. But nothing so bad."

"Right." Lt. Stone nodded. "Well, I'm going to run this through, please make sure she doesn't run away or something."

"You got it, sir."

Skull puffed out his chest before walking over to his former friend. Once he was out of earshot of Lt. Stone, he addressed Sharky. "What are you doing here? Bulkie and I thought you left Angel Grove."

With a snort, Sharky brushed her long blonde hair from her face and tilted her head to the side. She looked Bulk and Skull up and down before commenting, "Is this your new scheme to try and win over the little pink princess?" Skull rolled her eyes.

Sharky had always been jealous of the attention that Bulk and Skull had given Kimberly and Trini, the former more often than the latter. It wasn't a surprise that her torment was usually directed towards the pink ranger on a daily basis before she had left. Not that the boys had particularly noticed, they had their own things going on with Jason and then Tommy.

"I have to tell you, it's not working," Sharky continued. "I can't really believe you two as police officers." Her eyes shifted. "No matter how many times you save the world from creepy ooze monsters."

Bulk cleared his throat. "Yes, well, we're not talking about us right now, we're talking about you. What happened? One day you were with us and then suddenly you left."

Red lips curling up into a pout, Sharky placed her hands on her hips. "Aww, did you guys miss me?" She gently shook her head. "It's funny I didn't think you could see anything past your noses. Let alone the fact you didn't seem to try and get in touch with me after being sent to juvie."

"You were sent to juvie?" Bulk's eyebrow rose and Skull's eyes nearly popped out. "That's why you left?"

"Petty crime, petty time." Sharky waved it off. "It's not anything so important. But, yes, I was away for a while and that was why. You couldn't have been too busy. No phone calls. No letters. Time just went on for you two and you seem to have turned into something that we were against once upon a time. But I guess you had to go and seem like you were important."

Skull watched Sharky's reaction, not surprised to find that she was reacting the same way he and Bulk had when they had been kicked out of school. They blamed everyone else around them and didn't take a lot of responsibility for themselves apart from having decided to become part of the junior police academy, before having been bumped up to the real police academy; where they still constantly took every day to prove themselves.

"Sharky, we're going to make sure that nothing else happens," He said to her, surprising both her and Bulk. "If you really want to change, like you seem to, then it's not going to help if something as small as this takes you back down a dark path."

Her stunned expression was replaced with one of discontent. "I don't need your help!" She spat.

"Yes, you do," Skull insisted. He waved a hand at Bulk and the two headed back over to Lt. Stone, who had just started to climb back out of his cruiser.

"Just as I thought," he announced. "She does have a record." He shook his head, appearing impressed. "Not even you two have done nearly as much as she has. It's going to be one long process to get her into the system now that she's back in Angel Grove, but I think she could do with the time."

"If we may be so forward, sir," Bulk said. He lowered his gaze slightly, unable to look directly into his boss's eyes. "We'd like to ask you for a favor. Please don't put her into the system. Maybe we can get her hours of community service or something. Clean up the park? The beach…" He trailed off as Lt. Stone gazed at him in confusion.

"Why would I do that?" He demanded quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked back and forth between the two with a critical eye. "Please, enlighten me."

"She's an old friend of ours," Skull explained. "And she's been having a hard time as of late. It's not going to help if she goes back into the system. Please." He looked hard into Lt. Stone's eyes. "That's the only thing I'm asking for."

Lt. Stone sucked in a slow breath before licking his lips. He regarded the two for a moment then nodded. "Right, well…I hope you don't disappoint me. This is the only chance you'll get. I'm holding you responsible for her." He stepped around Bulk and Skull and strode over to Sharky.

Bulk regarded his best friend with a tiny smile on his face, immediately wiping it away when Skull turned to him. But Skull caught the expression on his face and cast him a critical eye. "What?"

"Nothing," Bulk said quickly. "It's just…you're really growing up, Skull!" Bulk made a show of putting his arms around his best friends and crying into his shoulder. "You're really starting to think of people other than yourself!"

Skull laughed loudly, his signature laugh, causing Bulk to grimace, pulling back a little.

"We should work on that laugh, though."

* * *

"So our zords are going to stay like this when we're not fighting?" Rocky asked, watching s his Ape zord, now a miniature size, ran after the frog zord, trying to catch it. In fact, all of the rangers' miniaturized zords were running around acting as if they weren't made of metal, wire, and hydraulics, but acting as if they truly were the animals they represented.

The rangers had been contacted by Billy to get to the Command Center as soon as possible, only a matter of a half hour after he had left to get to work. He had been surprised when he teleported into the Command Center and found Zordon letting out low rumbles of laughter as he watched Alpha run as far as he could around the floor of the Command Center, the zords chasing after him. Billy quickly moved over to Alpha and knelt down, grabbing onto his wolf zord. It easily fit in his hand and ran up his arm before nuzzling the blue ranger's cheek and perching on his shoulder.

"Whoa," he murmured, a small smile on his face. He turned back to Alpha, watching as the robot fell over and the zords all piled on top of him. Eyes widening, the blue ranger hurried over to his friend and helped him into a sitting position. "Alpha, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Billy," Alpha replied. "I just never thought I'd ever be babysitting a set of zords."

"Do you know what made them turn his way?" Billy asked. He smiled, watching as the lion zord leapt on top of the tiger zord and they rolled along the ground. The ape zord stood and punched its fists against its chest while the bear zord sat down and started to scratch its head. "It's not going to impede our use of them in battle is it?"

"As far as we've seen, Billy, the zords seem to have a natural means of increasing and decreasing in size," Zordon said to him. "How, we're not sure of yet. As far as I'm concerned it may be from the Great Power. It'll be that more difficult to destroy these zords than the Thunderzords of before."

Billy nodded and placed his wolf zord on the ground. He crossed his arms as he watched them. It was going to take a while to get some accurate readings on them if they were going to be that small. He explained everything to the rangers once they arrived at the Command Center and now they were just as baffled as he was.

"How does it work though?" The purple ranger scratched her jaw, watching the zords. "Won't that make it hard for us to get some reading and work done on them?" She let out a yelp as her lion zord raced between her feet and then increased to its full size. The other rangers gasped, backing away from the full-formed lion zord. "I take that back, yeah?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," Billy hesitated, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at his wolf zord as it ran circles around his legs. "I would think that it had something to do with the Healiodore, but even Avalon's stegosaurus zord had managed to do that after having gotten caught by Rita's and Zedd's magic and we didn't have the power of the Healiodore at that point."

"What does it mean for our battles though?" Kimberly had pulled herself up onto a control panel and held out her hands. She smiled, watching the crane zord fly around her before coming nestled in her hands. Seconds later the falcon zord came and perched upon her outstretched hands as well, nuzzling against the crane zord. "Is it, like, a sort of protective plan? To grow smaller before a big attack can get to them?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Billy hesitated. "Though I can't be completely sure about that as well." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I don't have a lot more information. I just thought you guys should know about it before we went into battle and something went wrong."

"It was a good idea, man," Tommy reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Better to be prepared than go in blind."

"Now that we have that out of the way, we have one more pressing thing we need to address," Avalon pointed out.

Aisha tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What's that?"

The orange ranger turned towards her sister, who continued to sit atop her zord. "How do Fred, Bulk, and Skull know about the Command Center?" She gave her sister a hard stare and the purple ranger grimaced. The younger girl thought for a long moment, trying to come up with a good excuse for it but knew she wouldn't be able to. And Avalon knew it as well; her sister basically had the trait that she could not lie. Not only did Bailey have a big giveaway when she did try to fib, but she usually broke down within a couple of minutes and told the truth anyway. "Out with it, Bay."

"Alright." Bailey tucked her hair behind her ears. "When things were going down back here, I had a lot of help from Fred, Bulk, and Skull to figure out what was going on with the kids and the adults and everything," she explained. "And since you guys were gone and we didn't have the power yet, we didn't have the means to get to and from the Command Center when things were found out. And since we were in such desperate measures, Alpha didn't have a choice but to bring them with me when we he teleported me to the Command Center so that I could bring in a sample of Ivan's Ooze to try and determine what components were in it so that we could find some sort of a cure."

Adam was the first to speak up, and his comment diffused the potential tension that was to fill the Command Center. "I mean, I guess if they don't tell anyone else our secret, it's not a big deal."

"I don't think they were that surprised anyway," Tommy commented. The white ranger cleared his throat, absentmindedly pulling his ponytail through his fingers. "A while ago, Bulk approached me and told me that he and Skull knew for a while that we're rangers."

"They know?!" Rocky's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Bulk and Skull?"

"And Fred," Bailey clarified. "I couldn't keep it from Fred either." She lowered her head, allowing a curtain of hair to cover her face. "And…I think if the Command Center weren't down at the time, I would've lost my powers because I had to reveal my identity…kind of makes me think about Zack."

Avalon made a grunting noise and turned away from her sister. _Thanks for reminding me, Bay._ She caught Adam's eye and saw the frustration that flashed across the current black ranger's face. At least she never had to worry about that; how it would feel to take over someone's spot on the team because of circumstances that couldn't be helped.

"Rangers," Zordon said, grabbing everyone's attention. "As time goes on you're going to find that there are things that aren't fair and hat here are going to be battles you win, battles you lose, and innocent people are going to get caught the crossfire. But I've seen what you all can do. I believe you are going to be the ones that'll save Angel Grove, the Earth, and the universe all the same."

"But what about Rito and Scorpina?" Adam pointed out.

He tried hard not to think about Sabrina but the feeling came back and hit him in the gut. After everything with Ivan Ooze had gone down, after she had been split up from the golden monster, Sabrina had quickly left Angel Grove. There was something she wasn't telling him about what happened to her. And that he couldn't tell her he was a power ranger, h knew deep down it wasn't going to work.

But it had been the first time he had found someone that hadn't cared he was a bit quieter, a bit more serious than other guys around him and it had been ripped away from him because of Rita and Zedd and Ivan. He wouldn't ever let them get away with it, and was actually afraid of what he would do if he found those monsters in front of him again.

"Yeah, and Goldar and Rito," Rocky agreed. The red ranger finally lost the charming smile that was almost always on his face. "They all managed to destroy our zords with little effort. How do we know it's not going to happen again?"

"We won't know," Alpha reminded him. "You just have to have faith in yourselves. You deserve the powers of the ninjetti. It's been inside you and will aid you in battle."

All of a sudden the warning klaxon went off and the rangers turned to the viewing globe, watching as Rito wreaked havoc and destruction amongst Angel Grove. He shot blasts of energy from his eyes, immediately destroying everything in sight.

"Good timing, Alpha," Avalon remarked. "I think you have a sixth sense about these things."

"Fight hard, rangers, and may the power protect you," Zordon said.

"Ninja Ranger Power, now!" Tommy declared and the group went through the motions to activate their new powers.

As the rangers teleported from the Command Center and into battle, Alpha ushered the zords to go back to their launching pads, waiting to be used in battle. He then turned back to Zordon. "Do you think they'll be able to handle Rito and the Tengas? They're stronger than anything the rangers fought before."

"I'll admit I do have some worries of my own," Zordon said. "But I do believe they'll ultimately prevail." He paused for a moment. "Though I wish we had the chance to warn them about the power of the ninjetti, it's a lot stronger than they're used to and will continue to take more energy from them the longer they use it until the energies become linked."

"Oh." Alpha lowered his head. "I hope they'll be okay."

* * *

The gates to the plane opened and a steady stream of people walked off the plane and into the terminal of the Angel Grove airport.

Katherine Hillard let out a happy sigh as she walked over towards a large window and looked out of it, scanning the skyline of the city that waited for her. Nothing was going to stop her now.


	13. Consequences

**Chapter 13**

_Consequences_

* * *

Tommy did a roundhouse kick to the punching bag and followed it up with a straight drive from his elbow. For a few seconds he continued to stand there, elbow pressed against the rough fabric that protected the sand underneath.

Pulling his arm back, the white ranger steadied the swinging bag and pressed his forehead against it. Deep inside he could hear his falcon animal spirit crying out for him in concern, but as he had done after the first few rounds of practicing, he ignored the falcon. What was the point of having the new powers when he couldn't take his thoughts away from the old ones he had? If it hadn't been for him…if he hadn't pushed the zords so hard, they probably would've been able to defeat the ooze men, Rito, Goldar, Scorpina…all of them with little to no problem.

Instead, he allowed them to continue fighting at their full power, more than that, and they ended up imploding. Blowing up, decimating themselves before his and the others' eyes and it had been his choice to make. Sure, Avalon had jumped onto the band wagon right after he had explained the plan, but it had been his decision. _He_ was the leader, _he_ was the one that made all of the decisions, _and he_ was the one that had given the zords, their friends their death sentence. And if he hadn't done that, they wouldn't have had to go to Phaedos and leave everyone on Earth waiting to figure out how to save themselves while the rangers weren't even sure if they were going to make it back to Earth alive.

It had been more traumatizing than he thought it ever would be. Watching his White Tiger zord break into pieces and cry out for him as it fell to the ground…he had wanted to react like Kimberly had, to scream at the top of his lungs and race towards the White Tiger zord…to do anything in his power he could to pick the pieces up and put them back together. But it was useless, too dangerous. Not only were the monsters that managed to destroy it with a well placed blow still out there, waiting to murder the rangers as they got the chance, but because they had lost their faith in being able to defeat them, with how badly the ooze men had managed to almost tear them apart even before they had morphed.

 _What are we going to do if Rito is even stronger than that?_ Tommy thought, backing away from the punching bag. He brought his fists up to frame his face, as if there was someone across from him waiting to come at him with the next strike. _We barely managed to get rid of the horoscope monsters, Sagittaria was murdered by Goldar and Scorpina, and if he was that strong…if Rito is stronger…I don't know what'll happen to us. Even with these new powers…_ He backed up a few spaces and then spun around to do another roundhouse kick. He caught sight of a blonde teenage girl at the last second and tried to change the trajectory of his foot, but wasn't able to do it fast enough.

He struck the punching bag with his foot and sent it flying back into the girl that had been walking by, looking around at the Youth Center. The punching bag crashed into her, sending her flying to the ground, scattering the contents of her purse. Tommy's mouth dropped open as he grabbed onto the punching bag and steadied it, before hurrying around and kneeling by the girl's side.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized to her. "I wasn't watching to be sure I had all the space…I guess I kind of zoned out a little bit…" he trailed off, grabbing scattered tubes of lipstick and lip gloss, replacing them into the pink purse that rested nearby him. "That's funny; my girlfriend has the same purse."

"Then she has a good sense of style," the girl replied, her voice coming out soft and delicate. Tommy immediately recognized the accent in her voice and turned to her. She looked back at him, brushing her hair from her blue eyes and took the purse he handed out to her. "Thanks." She made sure everything was back inside before standing up. "I guess I didn't know what hit me." She laughed, looking over at the punching bag that was beside her. "Well, I reckon I do know what hit me, but I surely didn't see it coming, yeah?"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tommy apologized once more. He stood up, adjusting his gi, smoothing it down. "I really didn't mean to."

"That's alright, I'm sure it was an accident."

"Yeah…" Tommy quickly wiped sweat off of his hand and held it out towards the girl. "I'm Tommy, by the way. Tommy Oliver."

"I'm Katherine Hillard, nice to meet you, Tommy." Kat shook his hand firmly. "But you can call me Kat, all my friends back in Australia do."

"Is that where you're from?"

"Yeah, my parents and I just moved here. My father got a new job and we had to quickly pack up and come out there." Kat looked around the Youth Center. "I've been here in Angel Grove for a couple of days and so far I still don't know what's going on around here. But I've been told by a lot of people that this place is where everyone likes to hang out so I thought I would get a firsthand look." She brought a hand up to her forehead. "Though I think I got more than I bargained for."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was distracted," Tommy said. He reached over and picked up a towel, drying off his forehead. "I've had a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, I kind of saw that," Kat agreed. She tilted her head to the side. "I reckon I don't mean to speak out of turn, but it really seemed like you were having trouble figuring something out. Did you…want to talk about it?"

Tommy sorted slightly. Did he want to talk about it? He wanted nothing more than to stop the nightmares of the Oozemen and Ivan, the constant thoughts of what he could've done better to keep them from having suffered such great devastation would be helpful. But to say it to someone who hadn't been in on the same experiences, let alone telling the other rangers when he had to be strong for them, that wasn't an option. No matter how much he wanted to be able to get it off his chest.

"Thanks, but this is something I have to work through on my own," he said. He tilted his head and led Kat towards the counter, where Ernie was dusting off the counter. "Ernie, could I get a pineapple-banana smoothie?" He pulled himself up onto a stool and motioned the one next to him for Katherine to take, which she did with a warm smile of gratitude. "And this is Kat, she'd like a…"

"Um." Kat brought a hand up and tapped a finger against her lips as she looked at the menu over her head. After a moment of indecisiveness, she turned back to Tommy. "What would you suggest? I don't really know what they serve here."

"Right, I forgot about that," Tommy said. He turned back to Ernie and ordered a double pineapple banana smoothie before shifting to face Kat. "So you're from Australia?"

Kat nodded. She gently kicked her foot back and forth. "From Sydney, actually. I've lived there all my life with my Mom and Dad. It's a really great place to live, actually. Have you ever been there?"

"On our last school trip. Actually my sister…well, she's not my sister, not yet…she's from Australia, too. And when we went on the trip we went and stayed at her place and saw the sights and everything. It really is a beautiful place."

"Oh your sister is from Australia?"

"Well, she's not my sister yet." Tommy bobbed his head back and forth as he tried to think of a quick way to explain it. "My parents are adopting her and her sister. But they're from Australia too, maybe you know them? Avalon and Bailey Mitchell?"

Kat thought for a moment then slowly shook her head. "No, sorry. I don't think I've ever met them before."

"Well, they also go by the names Cadence and Abigail…"

"Sorry. I mean, the name sounds familiar, but I don't think I know them." Kat smiled in an understanding way. "Australia's a big place, there're so many people I haven't met before. But I'm sure it'd be nice to meet them, it's always great to find some home when you're away from home. I'd like to meet them."

"I'm sure they'd like to meet you too, and then my other friends, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Billy, and Kimberly. We're all going to the park later today, with Bailey's friend Fred if you want to come with us." Tommy turned back to Ernie and picked up the smoothie that was held out towards him. He picked up the plastic cup and turned back to Kat, holding it up. "I hope you have a good time here in Angel Grove."

Kat's eyes flashed as she held her cup towards him. "I hope so too. Cheers." The two clinked their cups together and Kat moved the straw to her mouth, taking a long sip. The blend of pineapple and banana reminded her of home in some ways, though she realized she was going to have to push those thoughts aside. Especially if she was going to be in Angel Grove for the unforeseeable future. "So, you seem to have a lot going on," she remarked. "All of your friends, martial arts…" she paused. "You said you had a girlfriend?"

"Oh yeah, Kimberly," Tommy said. He brought his hands down and rested them on his knees, as his feet started to bob up and down on the edge his stool. "She's great. We've been together for a while now. Frankly, I'm surprised she was even interested in me when I first moved here."

"Oh, you're not from Angel Grove?" Kat looked interested.

"No, my parents and I are from Los Angeles. I moved here a couple of years ago. I thought it was going to be hard to fit in, and, like you, I was worried about coming to a new place and fitting in and everything. But the people here are really nice, and soon you'll feel like you've always lived here. Like there was no other place to be." He held up a hand. "But I have to warn you about the monster attack."

Now Kat looked surprised then concerned. "Monster attacks?"

"Yeah, that really threw me for a loop, too." The white ranger ran a hand through his hair. "Every now and then there are monsters that attack the city. But Angel Grove has a really great evacuation plan and—"

"—and the power rangers. That's something I couldn't stop hearing about even from the airport. Something about them having saved the entire city, after there had been some ooze monsters around." She shuddered, bringing her hands up to her arms and rubbing them a little. "Sounds scary. But if what they say about the power rangers is true, then I'm sure it's not going to be a problem to think of it as normal."

Tommy smiled and laughed in agreement. He took another swig of his smoothie seconds before a pair of dainty hands covered his eyes and the scent of flowery perfume entered his space. He didn't need to even guess who it was; his whole body reacted to it. He always came alive whenever Kimberly came around him; the way she smelled, the way she smiled at him, how she fluttered her eye lashes, the way she pouted at him whenever she wanted to get her way on some things, her exuberant spirit and passion for life, all of it turned him on in ways he never imagined would be possible before he had met her. He had gone out on dates before, but they weren't as fun as the ones he had with Kimberly.

He knew he was nothing short of in love with her and despite the fact they were young he knew they would be together for a long time. If Rita, Zedd, and monsters couldn't beat them down, nothing would.

"Guess who!" Kimberly's voice crooned in his ear.

"Hey Beautiful." Tommy reached up and pulled Kimberly's hand down from his eyes.

He kissed her hand before pulling her around to his front and looping an arm around her waist. Noticing that his hand fell onto her thigh more than the familiar, warm skin of her waist Tommy looked down at her, noticing for the first time in a while that Kimberly looked great. He had noticed that she lost a bit of weight but was afraid of saying anything on because he hadn't wanted to upset her in some way.

Plus he had seen how his mother had banished his father to the couch after he had made a comment about her weight and never wanted to make that mistake. Even as Kimberly moved to his side he could hear the falcon now make a cry of happiness, now that it was reunited with the crane. He could feel it deep inside, almost as if the crane were a part of him as well.

Leaning over, the white ranger kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "How're you doing today? I thought we were going to meet up at the park."

Kimberly gave him a 'duh' look before reaching up and knocking on his forehead. "Uh, hello, Tommy. Yes, we were going to meet at the park, but that was about an hour ago. C'mon space cadet, you said you weren't going to forget."

Tommy tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. He had remembered making the plans to go to the park, he remembered that he was supposed to bring a few packages of potato salad, but he hadn't remembered the time they were supposed to get there. Even as Kimberly continued to watch him, Tommy lifted his arm and glanced at his watch, eyes widening. He really _was_ late, a habit he was trying hard to break.

"God, you're right," he said. He ran a hand over his face for a moment. "Look, I have to get changed really fast, and then we can get going." He started to get off of the stool and then noticed Kat, who tried to busy herself while the rangers had their conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry. Kim, this is Katherine. Katherine, this is my girlfriend Kimberly."

The pink ranger turned to Kat and gave her best smile and stuck out her hand. "Hi, you can call me Kim."

"You can call me Kat," Kat replied. She shook Kimberly's hand with the same amount of enthusiasm that the pink ranger showed. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Tommy has had a lot of good things to say about you and Angel Grove. It's already like I've been here forever."

"Oh you're new here?" Kimberly looped her arm around Tommy's and smiled sympathetically at Kat. "Where are you from? I hope Angel Grove hasn't been too hard on you. I know that coming to a new place can be really hard."

"Yeah, I already got that spiel from Tommy." Kat's lips curled up into a small smile. "I'm from Australia. Tommy, actually, invited me to come with you guys at the park. I hope that's all right. If not, I reckon I can go home and make sure I have all of my school supplies and my schedule for when school starts again. I thought coming to a new place was hard, but doing it in my senior year?"

Kimberly gave Kat a sympathetic smile, reaching out and grabbing onto Kat's hand. "I know what you mean. But Angel Grove is really nice. Why don't you come to the park with us? That way you'll get a chance to meet our friends and during your first day at Angel Grove High you won't be so alone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

Kimberly turned back to Tommy and the white ranger nodded in agreement.

"Well, okay." Kat stood up from her stool and slid her purse over her shoulder. "Before we go, I just need to tell my Mom and Dad where I'll be. I'll…meet you out front, okay?"

Tommy and Kimberly nodded and waited as Kat went over to the payphones and started to put in money for a call. It wasn't until the pink ranger turned around and regarded the white ranger with a raised eyebrow that Tommy realized the groan he had mentally thought of he had made out loud. At her glance, he explained, "I was just hoping that one the way there we could have some time alone. I mean, no offense to our friends and everything, but I haven't had some time with just for a while now."

"I think you should be complaining about the monsters, more than our friends, Tommy," Kimberly said with a smirk. Tommy rolled his eyes as Kimberly reached out and looped her arms around his waist. "But I do get your point. Do you know how hard it is not to want to jump you whenever I see you in your new ninjetti suit?"

Tommy blinked in surprise at Kimberly's boldness. Not that he wasn't enticed by the idea, but that while she was usually pretty open about what she was feeling about things, she hadn't always been that confident. When the two were around each other, their relationship was mostly innocent afraid to take the next step or push things further in case they were moving too quickly for the other person. Their own insecurities had a bit of a strain on their relationship as well; it was a welcome change thought it still managed to shock him.

"No, I didn't know that," he said. "But it's good to hear."

"And besides, she's new here. You remember what it was like when _you_ were new." She looked around before lowering her voice. "Apart from the whole, evil green ranger thing. But it couldn't have been as hard. You'll see, she'll meet all of our friends and things will go back to normal."

"As 'normal' as can be around us, right?"

"Right." Kimberly gave him a kiss then took a step back, wiping off her lips. "Now go get a shower, you really smell."

Tommy gave her a mock salute and picked up his things. He went to the locker room and quickly shed out of his practice clothes and got into the shower. As he stood under the running water the thoughts he had tried to keep at bay came back. The destruction of the Command Center, the death of Zordon, the destruction of the zords, traveling to Phaedos, eating all of the squirbs, working to practice the strengths they gained from their animal spirits, ultimately defeating Ivan…

All of the pain and the emotions that he had kept bottled up throughout the journey…it finally burst forth and as he stood in the shower, starting to cry, Tommy wondered if he really had what it took to be the leader of the power rangers.

* * *

"Avalon Mitchell here for Lt. Stone," Avalon said, walking to the front desk of the AGPD. She waited impatiently as the officer standing at the front desk picked up the phone and called to Lt. Stone's office. After what felt like hours, but was really on a few minutes, the orange ranger turned at the sound of footsteps heading her way and lifted her chin when she spotted Lt. Stone.

"Avalon Mitchell," Lt. Stone greeted her. "I was hoping that I wasn't going to see you anytime soon. Please tell me that you haven't decided to quit school, too."

"Are Bulk and Skull too much for you to handle?" Avalon shot back.

"They've seemed to calm down a bit, after having gotten back in touch with their friend Sharky." Lt. Stone came to a stop in front of her, taking off his hat. "Or Alicia as her name really is. It must've been a big reality check, to see what would've happened to them if they kept acting the way they did. They were one step away from getting in jail themselves."

"Yeah…" Avalon slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "But this is really good for them. I can tell. I'm really proud of what they've managed to accomplish. What with helping save the city and everything."

At those words, Lt. Stone motioned for her to follow him back to his office. "I thought that the power rangers had a big part of that as well, but that's just my opinion." He flashed the orange ranger a smile as they entered his office and he closed the door behind him. Avalon made a humming sound, glancing over her shoulder before it closed the whole way. "Relax, Avalon, I've kept yours and Bailey's secret. I understand it's a secret for a reason and I don't want to jeopardize it."

Sitting down in the seat across from Lt. Stone's desk, Avalon nodded. "I reckon it wouldn't sound great if news got out that you found me on the ground in the middle of gang land anyway." She paused, looking directly into his eyes. "By the way, what excuse _did_ you give for that night?"

Lt. Stone and Avalon regarded each other for a long, tense moment. Finally, he leaned forward, lacing his hands together and placing them atop his desk. "Is there something I should know, Miss. Mitchell?"

Avalon took a deep breath, briefly wondering why she had even brought it up to Lt. Stone. She had done a good job of keeping everything at bay before she had gotten the police involved. She had kept herself and Bailey in an apartment with little to no problems; she had slowly started to break away from Chase's hold over her, and had been able to do it when there wasn't police around and form the help of her friends.

How would this be seen?

If Skye and Summer knew what she was doing, that they had been tattled upon and everyone around her was targeted, what would that mean as a way to repay them?

She would just be bringing them into trouble once again. And if there was one thing Avalon hated more than being proven wrong, it was when the people she cared about the most were put in danger. Especially over things she could've avoided.

"I'm just letting there know that if there is something and you don't tell us…and something else happens, it won't behoove you to tell us what had happened at a later date. In fact, it would make you appear to be even guiltier than the guilty party."

"I know." Avalon lowered her head. "I've been arrested a few times before…I know what can happen." She let out a breath, lifting her head. "Uh, not too long ago. Summer and Skye attacked me. I don't know how they managed to do it, but they're back in Angel Grove. I think they want revenge against me and I don't know what to do."

Lt. Stone regarded Avalon with a blank expression before slowly shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Avalon, but that's impossible. We have police tracking their every move and so far, according to the tags we have on them, they haven't left the state of Montana for a while now."

"Montana? What's in Montana?"

"Nothing. But that's the point. There are enough farm lands, barns, fields for them to keep themselves hidden if on the run. Not only that, but by this point they may have changed their appearance to keep themselves from being caught."

"They did that, too," the orange ranger insisted. "They grew out their hair…changed their hair color…lost weight. Anything to keep from being recognized. But I knew it was them as soon as I saw them."

Licking his lips, Lt. Stone leaned back in his seat. "And you're sure it wasn't the High Flyers?"

"They weren't wearing purple, besides; I know all of the High Flyers. It wasn't them." She shook her head impatiently. "You're not listening to me. They're back here, yeah? I _know_ it. They chased me through the alleyways and up onto a fire escape. I haven't needed to run like that since I was actually _in_ the Vipers and I didn't plan on doing it ever again." Copying the man's movements, Avalon leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, her foot bobbing up and down. "Can you please at least check?" Her voice came out higher, shriller than she had originally intended.

Lt. Stone held up a hand. "Don't worry, Avalon. I'm just trying to get some information before I dispatch the man power. I'll look into it. Besides it's the least I could do for all of the help you've given me." He shook his head. "I still can't get that…demon monster out of my head."

Avalon slowly nodded, trying not to wince. Diabolico. Not only had he managed a lasting memory on Lt. Stone, and probably Bulk and Skull as well, but he had been the one that had taken away Avalon's older half brother Ryan, when he was only a little boy, and then helped in the plan that resulted in the death of Billy's mother. It was a name she hoped she never had to hear again, not when there was so much damage surrounding it.

"I would've done it even without my powers, Lt. Stone," the orange ranger said honestly. "You, Bulk, and Skull have helped me out a lot. It would be the least I could do." She looked at her watch before standing up. "I hope you find something about Summer and Skye. It'd put my mind at ease for once." She stepped back into a corner of the room and gave Lt. Stone a quick wave before bringing up her communicator and teleporting to the park.

She arrived behind a line of hedges and circled around them, heading over to her friends, who had a bunch of picnic blankets and food set up. Rocky spotted her and threw a football her way. Avalon jumped up, reaching over her head to catch it, but it easily sailed over her head and landed on the ground behind her.

"A little help?" Adam, who the ball was meant for, called over to her.

Avalon turned and grabbed the ball. Instead of throwing it back, she walked it over to the black ranger and tossed it to him, only a few feet away. "I'd throw it back, but then you'd realize that I'm actually not amazing at everything that you already think I am."

"You have an amazing sense of modesty, Ava, I can tell you that," Billy called to her, standing a few feet to her right, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for his chance at the ball. In return, the orange ranger stuck her tongue out at him before giving him the finger, which caused him to laugh in return.

"You really don't know how to play?" Adam asked, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands.

"I know how to play; I'm just too short to be good at it."

"Girl, don't be dissing the shorties," Aisha said with a playful wage of her finger. "Not only can I play football, but I'm better than the guys here." She held out her hands and Adam tossed the ball over to her. "Besides, we need to get these guys in shape before the next season starts so…I propose we play keep away!"

Aisha turned and started to sprint across the field, Rocky, Adam, and Billy immediately taking after her. Avalon, and Bailey and Fred who had been sitting on the picnic blankets nearby, got into the game and started to run around with their friends as well. Aisha quickly passed the ball over to Avalon, who started to sprint in the opposite direction, taking the boys to follow after her, before she handed the ball over to Bailey. Despite how quickly she ran, Adam easily caught up to the purple ranger and lifted her up into his arms, spinning her around.

"Okay, okay!" Bailey cried. "Put me down before I puke!" The black ranger placed her back on the ground and she quickly handed the ball over to Fred, who threw it to Billy as the boys started to pass it back and forth. "If that's what being on the field is like, then I don't want to be a football player."

"Let's get the rest of the stuff out so it can be ready by the time Tommy and Kim get here," Aisha suggested.

"Fine by me," Avalon agreed, holding up her hands. "The last thing I need is to get beat up even further." She picked up a folded blanket and started to shake it out, missing the looks of confusion Aisha and Bailey exchanged. The three finished setting up the food and blankets and as they were about to join the guys in a game of basketball, Bailey spotted Tommy and Kimberly heading their way.

"Hey! They're here!" She waved towards them before hurrying over. "Tommy! Kim! Hey!"

"Hey guys." Kimberly waved back before looping her arm through Tommy's, leaning into his side. "Sorry we're late, Tommy lost track of time again."

"And I thought you were doing better with that, man," Billy said with a mock shake of his head. He reached out and nudged Tommy' side. "Looks like we're going to have to put a bell around your neck. At least it'll match hers." He put his arm around Avalon's shoulders, causing the shorter girl to roll her eyes.

"Please, I'm already recognized by face at most places, I don't need to bring even more attention to myself." The orange ranger put her arm around Billy's waist and leaned into him in response, causing the blue ranger to blush lightly.

Adam then took a step forward, nodding over to Katherine, who stood at the side of the group, quietly holding onto her purse. "So who have you got there?"

"Right, guys, this is Katherine, Kat. Kat this is Adam, Aisha, Rocky, Billy, Avalon, her sister Bailey, and her friend Fred." Tommy gestured through the large group of friends, introducing them all. Kat smiled and waved to the large group, appearing timid. "We invited her to have a picnic with us, if that's alright."

"That's cool, the more the merrier," Rocky said with a wave of his hand. "We were just playing a game of basketball to get an appetite. Are you guys in?"

"Well, I haven't played in a while, but it sounds like fun," Kat agreed. She put her purse down on the ground and followed the rangers as they started to split themselves up to play the game. And for the next hour the rangers and Fred and Kat ran back and forth along the basketball court as they played the game. Every now and then the rangers would show off a bit with high jumps and quick passes, stemming from their new powers which, thankfully, no one questioned.

They continued to play as long as they could until their hunger finally got the best of them. Then the rangers had gone back over to the picnic blankets and started to pass out their food.

"So, Av, Bay, Kat is from Australia too," Tommy said to the orange and purple rangers. "From Sydney. Maybe you knew each other back home."

Avalon and Bailey exchanged glances, their noses wrinkling in unison. It was Bailey that spoke. "I don't think so," she said. "Not only is it that not every Aussie knows each other, but she doesn't look that familiar."

"What's your last name?" Avalon asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Hillard," Kat supplied.

"I don't think we met before…but your name _does_ sound really familiar," Avalon commented. She rubbed her neck, noticing that Kat's eyes moved down to the tattoo on the inside of her wrist. "Were you ever in the newspaper for something?"

"Me? No." Kat quickly shook her head, dismissing the question. "I'm not good at anything, not enough to be put into the paper. I reckon it's a very silly idea."

"No, it's not," Fred defended her. "Everyone's good at something. You shouldn't put yourself down about it."

Kat started to change the subject when there was a loud squawking sound caught the rangers' attention. They looked over in time to see a hoard of Tenga warriors heading their way, screeching and squaking, waving their arms as they went. Kat quickly scrambled to her feet, mouth dropping open as she watched the warriors. "What are those things?"

Fred looked at the rangers out of the corner of his eye. They weren't going to be able to do anything if he and Kat were around. "Not anything we want to let get too close," he said. Standing up, he grabbed onto Kat's hand. "Let's get out of here, they can handle this."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, you guys go," Tommy said. "We can handle this."

The rangers waited until Fred and Kat were out of sight before falling into formation. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" The rangers swung their arms around in a sweeping arc, electrical currents of their colors coming off of their fingers seconds before they morphed into their new ninjetti gis.

Rocky leapt forward and pounded his fists against his chest before scaling the nearest tree to him. He got up onto the lowest branch, watching as the Tengas jumped into the tree branches next to him. Doing a judo sweep, the knocked a few back out of the tree before turning aside and leaping at the closest tenga to him and knocked it out of the tree, pile-driving it into the ground.

Adam, using the powers of the frog, waved his arms back and forth, fending off the attacks the tenga sent his way. "You'll have to move quicker than that!" He declared, continuing to move his arms back and forth. Finally, he shifted behind the tengas and did a roundhouse kick, knocking them to the ground.

Aisha laughed as she stood still, her arms crossed over her chest. The tengas continued to run at her over and over, trying to knock her to the ground with a quick blast of their wings and a direct hit of their beak. She continued to laugh until she grew tired of the tengas heading her way. Planting her feet on the ground, Aisha swung her arm forward and clothes lined the tengas in a straight line, knocking them over.

Billy closed his eyes as he listened to the tengas flying around him. His eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of a tenga heading towards him. He did a low kick to knock a few tengas off of their feet and then placed his hands on the ground, flipping over and jumping high into the air, doing a split and kicking two tengas in the face. He then grabbed onto the wing of the remaining tenga and flipped it over onto the ground.

Avalon crouched low to the ground, watching as the tenga swooped around her in a circle that decreased in size, like buzzards waiting for their prey. They continued to move in closer and Avalon quickly got to her feet and brought her foot up in a high kick, knocking a tenga in the face. The hit was so solid, using the power of her animal spirit, and sent the tenga flying backwards. She spun around and, gaining momentum, did a butterfly kick and smacked another tenga in the stomach. She bounced off of a large rock that was nearby and launched herself backwards and into the tenga behind her, knocking it out.

Bailey and Tommy moved back to back and moved in a small circle as they kept an eye on the tengas around her. Then Bailey rolled over Tommy's back and did her series of kata against the tengas, knocking them over with a series of punches and kicks. Tommy took care of the tenga on the other side, with a series of high jump, spinning kick, eight of them in a row. The two then followed each other in a series of kicks in unison, knocking the tenga back onto the ground.

"Gotta fly!" Kimberly quickly and gracefully jumped high into the air, causing the tengas to crash into each other. When she landed back on the ground, she surged forward and struck the tengas in the chest, then quickly circled back and did a series of backhand springs over to the others. As it swung out a wing, trying to hit her, she ducked out of the way and did a cartwheel before doing a splitting jump and kicking the tenga back. She flipped forward and kicked the tengas in the stomach in a series of kick and they fell to the ground once more.

The rangers then came together as the tengas quickly got up and flew away.

"Great job guys," Tommy said to his friends. "Power down!" The rangers demorphed and looked around. "Looks like the tengas didn't want to stick around for a better fight," he noted. "You all fought well," he added in his most authoritative voice. He didn't understand it; being a leader came so easily to him, he never questioned his motives before. Why now?

"What was that about?" Aisha scratched the back of her head. "They didn't even really put up a fight."

"With Rita and Zedd who knows," Billy remarked. "But we can't let out guards down."

"Not even to eat?" Rocky asked, which caused eye rolls and laughter from his friends.

* * *

Kat, who had been watching nearby, smiling as she gazed at the rangers standing in a tight circle, conversing amongst themselves. Her eyes flashed red and she turned her head to the side as there was a warping sound and Rito appeared by her. "Yes?" She asked, evil smile dropping.

"Just making sure you did what you were supposed to do," Rito replied. "We had orders." His skeletal hand moved towards the hilt of his sword, gently tapping on it. "Did you find them?"

"Yes, I did," Kat replied. "It was easier than I thought it would be. They took me in pretty quickly." She smiled evilly at Rito. "The rangers won't know what hit them."


	14. Truth Turned Out To Be A Lie

**Chapter 14**

_Truth Turned Out To Be a Lie_

* * *

"Rockwell!"

 _Not again._ Rocky turned onto his side and pulled his pillow up over his ear. Or, at least, he tried. It barely came up to his ear, unlike the pillow he already had on his bed. That, and the smell of frying bacon, immediately caught his attention

Pushing himself up, Rocky rubbed his eye as he glanced around the living room, suddenly realizing he hadn't been in his room at all. Surprisingly, he had become so dead to the world that he hadn't noticed that his mother had been calling him. Now she stood above him, holding onto a spatula in one hand and a slipper in the other. Noticing the slipper, Rocky immediately recoiled, moving a hand up as if to block his face.

"No, mami, please not the slipper. Lo siento!" Rocky then glanced up at her in confusion. "Wait, what am I apologizing for?"

"Well, not only are you drooling on my couch!" Mrs. DeSantos replied, wagging her slipper at Rocky, who finally sat up, draping a blanket across his legs. "But you forgot to go to the store like I asked you to. _And_ I thought you were going to take your brothers and sisters to their friends' houses."

"Was I?" Rocky ran his hands over his face, trying to remember what he had been told within the past few days but be couldn't keep it straight. Not only had he needed to get ready to go back to school for the next week, but Rita and Zedd had been throwing down more and more monsters and Tenga fights than any of them anticipated having to be in. Left and right he had to throw out plans to go fight off the Tengas using the new ranger powers.

And not only that, but he had to deal with the fact that his zord was around a lot more often than his tyrannosaurus zord was. His new ape zord was pocket size so he was able to have it with him nearly every second of the day and hiding that from his family was a lot worse than hiding being a ranger. Not only would he had to explain what the ape zord was, and that it was a toy but not a sort of toy that was supposed to be played with, and then explaining why he was always gone…

It was starting to become too much, so much to the point that he was starting to wonder if he was becoming as bad as Tommy was when it came to remembering things. _Nah, Rocky, that's not possible,_ the red ranger reminded himself. _You're never late to things and the only time you forget something is when a lot of food is involved. Because, let's face it, nothing is better than a good meal._ He frowned. _Speaking of…_

"I'm really sorry, Mom, I've just been so busy," he explained. "I mean, it's my last year of high school, I can't…I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around things you know." He lowered his chin. "Especially since we don't know if I can go to college…" he trailed off and his mother let out a quiet sigh, sitting down beside her son on the couch.

Mrs. DeSantos reached over and pushed back her son's hair, looking into his eyes. "You know we're going to be doing our best to get you to college, you know I'm trying hard."

"I _do_ know that," Rocky agreed. "I mean, you're already working two jobs and taking care of me and the little ones, but you can't do it all yourself. Please, let me get a job. _Something_."

"No, Rocky. I already told you that your senior year is about having fun and being with your family, I'm not going to have you jeopardize that just so you can slave away and work. I know how important this thing is for kids your age and I don't want you to miss out on that."

"I know, but—"

"Now, shush. Your brothers and sister are out and I have the house quiet for once. I need to make sure that my pico de gallo doesn't start to wilt before it's finished." Mrs. DeSantos got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen. The red ranger got up behind her and followed behind like a puppy attracted to the scent of a bone. "Nothing is worse than a wilted pico de gallo."

"Mmm, I agree with that," Rocky agreed. He suddenly paused and his face darkened.

Not that it was any different to suddenly have a large lunch made for him and his siblings, but there was something different about his mother. She hadn't always been against him getting a job, in fact there were many times before that she wand _wanted_ him to get a good job just so there was something he could fall back on if schooling didn't work out. And more often than not, he would've gotten a good swat to the head for being so forgetful, but she had become so relaxed about it.

No, not relaxed.

Nervous.

He could see her hands shaking as she continued to mix the ingredient in the food that cooked on the stove top. She was _never_ nervous and that was something he really admired about his mother, apart from her strong work ethic. It was a strange sight to see her so nervous and the only thing that made her nervous was her ex-husband. Well, he was still her husband, they had never gotten divorced. But he had still walked out o all of them, which was the part that had angered Rocky the most. That he had just up and left with no explanation and no ways of getting into contact with him.

"Mami?" It was the only thing he had to say before his mother closed her eyes and tilted her head forward out of shame. Rocky reached out and placed his hand on his mother's shoulder, feeling it tremble under his touch.

"Your father is coming over today, Rocky," Mrs. DeSantos said quietly. She lifted her head and went back to cooking, ignoring the stunned look that flashed across the red ranger's face. "It's been a long time since he's seen all of us and he said he wanted to talk about something things."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe, but you know how important family is to me."

Rocky nodded and leaned in, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. He rubbed her shoulders for a minute before turning and going up the stairs to his room. Closing the door behind him, Rocky flopped down onto his bed, only sitting up when he heard a sudden strangled cry. Looking down, he watched as the ape zord poked its head out of the pocket of his jeans and made a couple of angry grunting sounds before walking up and down Rocky's chest and stomach on his hands and feet, stopping every now and then to pound its chest.

The red ranger smiled as he watched the zord. It was so strange to know that something so small had so much power in it. Strange to know that it could get so big and help him and the rangers out like their last zords had done in a matter of minutes.

 _But that's like you isn't it?_ He reminded himself. When he was younger he didn't have a lot of power in himself, only having just started to take martial arts classes, mostly as a means to be able to defend himself and his family whenever his father did come back. And now…he felt like a little kid all over again, with no means for protecting himself and his brothers and sisters. _But now you have the chance to defend everyone from him. He doesn't have to be around if you don't want him to be._

Still, Rocky couldn't help but feel that shred of fear he had felt whenever his father was still around. Sure, in a way he had been upset when his father had left, he did love the man. But he was also very grateful when he knew that his father was gone for good. And now that he was coming back…crippling fear took over once more.

He started to sweat, skin felt clammy, heart thumped against his chest. Moving up into a sitting position, the ape zord clinging to the front of Rocky's shirt, Rocky ran his hands over his face. He wiped away the sweat and did his best to try and calm himself down but nothing was working. Then he glanced at his wrist, covered by a sweatband and he pulled it down from his wrist, showing off a few lines that were starting to become scars. The first cut had turned into a scar, the most recent cut still a bit puffy and red. Running his fingers over the skin of the cut, Rocky's breaths started to become shallower until he couldn't ignore the pain in his chest.

Reaching over, he picked up the mathematical compass he had resting on his desk and turned the sharpened end to his wrist, pressing it against his skin. He took a deep breath and slowly pulled it back against his skin, watching as a red line of blood appeared in its wake. All of the pain slowly moved out of him as the blood beaded up and rolled from his wrist down into the crook of his elbow. Not being entirely gone, Rocky cut again and again until he felt hat every bad feeling, every bad though had finally worked its way out of his body.

His shoulders slumped in resolve, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. Cleaning off the blood with a couple of tissues, the red ranger did his best to calm himself down before he blotted with tissues and put a dab of anti-bacterial medication on it. He waved out his wrist for a few seconds before sliding the sweatband back down over the cuts. Soon he wasn't going to have a good enough way to cover the scars unless he started to wear long sleeves all the time. Then there would be the questions he'd have to field from his friends…

 _They already have enough to worry about; I don't want to make them have to deal with this either,_ Rocky thought. He was suddenly alerted to the sound of the front door opening and the sound of his brothers and sisters coming into the house, their footsteps echoing off the walls accompanied by their laughter. But then it all stopped and there was an eerie silence. Alarmed, Rocky got to his feet and hurried downstairs, stopping so quickly on the last few steps that he nearly collapsed and fell to the bottom of the stairs.

He gazed at the man that stood in the doorway, the man that bore a striking resemblance to Rocky, though he had a harsher look in his face. Nevertheless his eyes were soft, as if the fire that used to reside in them had finally been cooled. But who knew if it had been completely extinguished or was just lying dormant until something ignited it one more.

"Dad," Rocky said in a low breath.

Mr. DeSantos looked over at his eldest son, eyebrows rising for a moment. Maybe he hadn't expected Rocky to be there…or maybe he had been surprised to see that the boy he had last seen when he was only eight years old was now a man. A man that saved the world on a daily basis and a man that was willing to do the same for his family when the time came.

"Hello, Rocky."

* * *

"So what are you going to wear?"

Avalon ran a brush through her hair with her right hand while using her left to keep her cell phone against her ear. "I'm already dressed, actually," she said. "I'm wearing black jeans, an orange and white striped tank-top and a black vest."

"Oh, that sounds cute," Kimberly squealed. "I like the idea of it."

"You should, you were the one that helped me pick it out at the mall a couple of months ago. I just never had a reason to wear it." The orange ranger turned from her mirror, gently lowering it to her desktop and leaned over to pull on her shoes. "Until now anyway." She let out a quiet sigh.

"Okay, now you're making me feel weird, you don't really sound too happy," Kimberly noted. She then gasped loudly, causing Avalon to bring her phone away from her ear, hoping she would keep her hearing intact. "Cadence Mitchell, don't tell me that you're thinking of changing your mind on this date. You and Billy are perfect together. I saw a kiss from you two that set the sky on fire."

"Firstly, Pinkerbell, don't call me Cadence, only my Mom does and I don't really enjoy it when other people do. Secondly, boofhead, there were fireworks, so of course it seemed like the sky was on fire. Though in your fantasy world I'm sure everything resembling love you have something to do with so I'm not going to hold my breath."

The pink and orange rangers laughed before Avalon fell silent, running her fingers along her neck. "It's not really anything, I guess, just a couple of things I've been working through lately. Nothing too important, just trying to figure out getting Mom back out here and seeing her and Dad and everything. It's kind of weird, wanting to be so close to them, but also knowing that I'm going to be adopted by another family."

"They did say it was better for you and Bailey," Kimberly pointed out. "So as weird as it is, they're still thinking of you and your well being."

"I guess," Avalon agreed. She looked at her watch. "So I have to get going, I'll talk to you later."

"Of course, of course. But don't forget to call me and Aisha after your guys' date is done. We want to hear everything. We'll be at the Youth Center with Tommy and Adam if you guys want to stop by when you're done."

"Something tells me I don't really have a choice in the matter."

"No, you really don't."

"I see you're taking a page out of my book. But just so you know it's copyrighted so you can't plagiarize." Avalon laughed and hung up her phone. She finished putting on her shoes and grabbed her wallet and keys before leaving her room. Turning off the light behind her she started downstairs.

Billy, who was sitting at the kitchen table talking quietly with his father, looked up as the orange ranger approached and smiled when he spotted her. He stood, pushing his chair back. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Avalon agreed with a smile. "Totally ready."

"Okay." Billy turned back to his father, who stood, and gave him a hug. "We'll see you later, Dad. Try not to stay up too late, alright?" David smiled and nodded but didn't otherwise reply. He walked the blue and orange rangers to the door and closed and locked it behind them as they went down the front steps and over to Billy's truck.

"So how do you think he's doing?" Avalon asked the blue ranger. She frowned when he busied himself with his keys, as if looking for the one that went to his truck. Knowing he didn't want to answer, she changed the subject before reaching out and snatching the keys from his hand. "Can I drive?" Billy raised a playful eyebrow and reached out to take the keys back from her but she pulled them further from his reach.

"Do you have your license?" He replied.

"Yes."

Pausing, he studied her. "Your _California_ license?"

"Yes!" Avalon moved her hand behind her back, still holding onto the keys. "And I promise that it's an actual license." She tilted her head to the side. "The picture is kind of bad, but I promise it's a legal license." Crossing his arms, Billy continued to look at Avalon. She smiled sweetly at him. "You're really not going to get your way on this one, Smurf. I can be really stubborn about this sort of thing."

"Really? I hadn't noticed?" Billy took another lunge for the keys and Avalon placed a hand on his chest, holding him back, holding out her other hand and dangling the keys, gently shaking them for a few seconds. "Fine, Ava. You can drive."

"Yes!" Avalon cheered and went over to the driver's side of the truck and unlocked it, hopping inside. As soon as she was in the seat, her eyes widened, noticing how she could barely see over the steering wheel. Frowning, she adjusted the seat in as many different positions as she could as Billy sat aside and watched her, trying not to laugh. "Shut up, Smurf."

"I didn't say anything," he defended himself, although he didn't do much to hide the smile that was working its way onto his face.

"You didn't have to. I can hear you thinking it." Avalon finally arranged the seat so that she could see safely over the steering wheel and started the truck. She pulled out of the driveway and drove to the Observatory. Once they arrived Billy paid for the tickets into the observatory and the two immediately headed into the planetarium section of the observatory.

Billy directed them towards a few seats at the front of the theater and the two sat down and sat back in the reclining seats and watched as the show was projected in front of them. The two watched in rapt attention as the show went on and when it was over, Billy spoke up.

"You know most of the stars that they showed in that projections don't really exist anymore?" He said. The orange ranger turned to him, eyebrows rising in interest and he continued. "Considering there are about one hundred billion galaxies that can be observable in the universe, many of them still not having been discovered, but there are about one hundred billion stars being born and dying within the year. Meaning that there are about 275 million per day that die out. So the stars that they have projected to show us today, could have very much died by the time the show had started if not there being ones that have been born in its place."

He looked over at Avalon and blushed, noticing how rapt at attention she was. "And that's not including the fact that there could be other galaxies that haven't been discovered yet."

"Like Phaedos, yeah?" Avalon agreed. "We didn't know it was a place that existed, who knows what other places are out there?" She thought for a moment. "We know there are Eltar and Edenoi because that's where Zordon and Alpha are from. But what about Rita and Zedd? There have to be other intergalactic beings we haven't run into and they have to come from other distant planets we've never seen. Those boofheads wouldn't hesitate to use everything at their disposal that we won't see coming."

"Affirmative," Billy concurred. "Even Rita's space dumpster. It had to have come from somewhere and the fact that we were able to get to the point of being able to travel into space and find it, though it has come with numerous disastrous results, it still is an amazing feat that had been accomplished." He thought for a moment. "So what does that mean for there being an even bigger power we could achieve somewhere? We never thought the powers we have now was even possible, but now here we are."

The orange ranger nodded in agreement.

"Then there's the topic of aliens and even then that's another thing in itself." He then noticed at Avalon had stopped walking and was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. "What?" He shuffled his feet, starting to worry. "Did I say something wrong? If I offended you, I didn't mean—"

"You're doing that rambling thing again, Smurf," Avalon pointed out. "You only do that when you're nervous. Relax." She stepped forward and slipped her hand into his, smiling up at him. "You didn't offend me in any way. I just didn't know that you knew so much about stars and stuff."

"I've always been interested in many aspects and areas of science and physics," Billy said modestly. "I guess with the galaxies and stuff I was always really interested because it gave me a chance to think of there being more out there to see and I wanted to be the first one to discover it all. Kind of like people…but not to the same extent."

"Well, that's really cool," Avalon said. She tightened her grip on Billy's hand and gestured with her other one. "So what else can you show me? I think I'd get more out of listening to you than listening to a teacher. No offense to Ms. Appleby."

Billy laughed. "She's not a bad teacher; she's the only one I know that has such a vast knowledge to take on so many subjects to teach."

"Yeah…" Avalon agreed. And she had done so much to help the orange ranger as well. Rather than sit back and let the Australian girl continue to ruin her grade point average by not turning in assignments and having detentions, she actually cared and helped her get back on track. Not only that, but she understood if there were moments where the orange ranger had to leave class or had multiple responsibilities she needed to take care of and gave her extensions when needed. She hadn't taken Avalon at face value—neither her appearance nor her attitude—and had gone as far as to find out the different sides the orange ranger had. "Look, I have something to tell you."

Avalon pulled Billy to a stop and turned to look at him. "Something I wasn't really sure I _was_ going to tell you because I wasn't sure how you'd react to it…but…"

"If this has to do with Jason and Chase I already know," Billy remarked.

 _What?_ Avalon's eyes widened in surprise. How had he known? She only briefly mentioned it to Kimberly and Aisha about Jason and even then she had only told Kim that she had dated Chase. She had kept it enough a secret she had nearly forgotten it happened at times. "How did you—?"

Tilting his head to the side, Billy gave her a smirk. "Because locker rooms have air vents that just so happen to be connected and sound carries so…" he trailed off as Avalon lowered her head. "I know you said there are a lot of things that you don't want o tell me, but the thing is…I don't judge people based on the things they've done before. Especially if it's something they're trying to get over." He thought for a moment before adding. "I haven't told Trini."

Now Avalon was even more confused. "About Jason and Chase?"

Billy chuckled and brought up his free hand, righting her head. "No, about you and me. I haven't told her. I don't want to hurt her feelings…I know she said that, we said that we didn't want anything to hold us back, but…I couldn't help but think about her and how she might feel about it." He bobbed his head back and forth. "Though something tells me that she already had a feeling we were growing close…something she said to me at the funeral…"

"Oh." Avalon nodded.

"And I hope that when you feel that you can trust me enough to tell me, you will. I don't doubt your intentions about it."

"Oh!" Now Avalon smiled, feeling a lot better. She squeezed Billy's hand and leaned into his side. "In that case, when I think that you guys won't freak out about it, then I'll tell you. In the mean time, what do you know about constellations? Other than the ones that inspired Rita and Zedd to attack us." He laughed and allowed himself to be pulled out to an outside telescope.

Taking hold of the scientific instrument, he positioned it towards the sky and the two spent the next hour and a half looking out the constellations of the zodiac signs as well as the other mythical creatures and beings that had been engraved in the sky. Noticing that the orange ranger had started to shiver a little, the blue ranger quickly pulled off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders, gently rubbing her arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder, looking up towards the sky.

"Maybe one day we'll be able to see the other galaxies and planets out here," he remarked. "To see what else there is out there…to see if there are others out there that are on our side, because Zordon said that we were only the first human rangers. To see if we can prove that things really do exist."

She noticed the way his voice hitched in his throat towards the end of his sentence but pushed it aside. It wasn't the time to bring it up, not when things were going so well.

"Maybe," Avalon agreed. She turned around and smiled up at Billy. "But right now I like being right here." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, causing him to smile and kiss her back.

* * *

"Hey Kim, do you have any competitions coming up or something? You've been working really hard lately," Aisha commented. She and Adam held their arms out to spot the pink ranger as she slowly moved back and forth on the balance beam, doing a series of spins, kicks, and flips that threatened to knock her off of the beam, but she continued to keep her balance.

Adam smiled as he watched the pink ranger did a cartwheel to one end of the balance beam. She turned and held her breath, focusing on the other end in front of her then ran forward, swung her arms down, and flipped off of the end of the beam, and landed on her feet, throwing her arm back over her head once more. He clapped appreciatively as he walked to her other side as a bright smile bloomed onto Kimberly's face. He frowned a little as she lost her balance, moving to step off the practice mats, then quickly caught her balance once she was on the floor of the juice bar.

"If you don't get the gold medal for that, then there's something wrong with the judges," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "I don't think I've seen anyone that can do what you can."

"Thanks guys," Kimberly said appreciatively. She bent down and grabbed onto her towel and started to dab at the sweat on her neck. "I'm just trying to keep in shape," she explained. "Those Tengas are really tough and we're going to need all we can take to make sure that we can stand up to those guys. And Rito."

"I don't think you have that problem, Kim," Aisha said appreciatively.

Adam nodded. He watched as Kim picked up her water bottle and started to take a sip before noticing it was empty. "Hey, let's get a round of smoothies," he suggested. "It's on me this time." He went up to the counter and ordered the drinks from Ernie as well as a sundae for himself, then took it back to the table. Tommy, who had finished his own workout, joined them. "Hey Tommy, how does it feel to have a girlfriend that's bound for Olympic gold?"

"It feels great, man," Tommy replied. He laughed and put his arm around Kimberly's shoulders. She blushed and accepted his gesture of affection. "I don't know anyone else that's as deserving as she is."

"Oh come on." Kimberly waved off her friends. "I'm not _that_ good." She brought a hand to her forehead and left it there for a few moments, letting out a few quiet breaths. Adam frowned as he watched her for those moments. When she finally straightened, miming wiping sweat from her forehead, "But I do hope I could get there." She shrugged. "I'm getting kind of old though, gymnastics has a really early retirement age. I'd hope I could get there, but it's kind of a far off dream."

"But that shouldn't stop you, girl," Aisha said. "You never know if you don't try."

"That's right," Adam agreed. He paused to a take a bite of his ice cream. "The worst thing you can do is not try and wish that you had. I know you can make it." He took another bite and smiled as Kimberly 'awwd' to her friends, putting her hand on her heart. Then Kimberly changed the subject to Tommy's martial arts and the next tournament he was going to participate in. He pushed his ice cream away after a few bites and then pushed it towards Kimberly to offer it to her, but she waved it off.

"I'm not that hungry," she said.

Adam raised an eyebrow. "You just finished a few hours of practice, how are you not hungry?"

She hesitated and then picked up the spoon. "Maybe just one bite. Tommy, what were you saying?"

"Oh, right that my next tournament has this guy from Los Angeles that has, apparently, never lost a match," Tommy said. He wiped his hands off on the front of his wife beater before pulling at his ponytail. "And he's _really_ good. I've seen him once. I don't think I can beat him."

"You have plenty of time to practice," Aisha reminded him. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Yeah, and Rocky and I'll be glad to help you out," Adam agreed. "To help you practice so that you can get better. You can beat him Tommy, I know you can." Tommy gave them and appreciative smile then looked over at the sound of metal scraping against metal and watched as the pink ranger pushed the little drips that were left at the bottom of the now empty sundae dish away from her.

The white ranger playfully nudged the pink ranger on the arm with his shoulder, gently jostling her. "Wow, you must've been hungrier than you though," Tommy commented with a light laugh, looking down at her empty sundae dish.

Aisha joined in on his laughter, shaking her head in awe. "And I thought Rocko had a big appetite. You really gave him a run for his money." She and Tommy exchanged glances and started to laugh again.

Frowning, Kimberly looked down at the table and her eyes widened as she took in the empty sundae dish, empty cup of smoothie and empty basket of fries. Adam, who had laughed along with Tommy and Aisha, slowly stopped laughing, frowning as he watched Kimberly's expression slowly turned to horror. His eyebrows furrowed together as Kimberly slowly brought her hand to her mouth before leaping to her feet.

"Kim?" Tommy asked.

"I don't feel very good" Kimberly managed to choke out before hurrying out of the juice bar. She started towards the bathroom, but stopped when she spotted girls going inside, then turned and fled out the front door.

The white ranger started to get up, but the black ranger beat him to it. "I'll go check on her," he offered.

"Kim, are you OK?" Adam asked, coming up to her side.

_The pink ranger flashed him the smile she had managed to perfect over the past couple of months as her mother would ask her the same question. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit anxious," she explained. "I was in such a rush to get out this morning I didn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast."_

_"We can go back and get you something really fast," Adam suggested, pointing over his shoulder towards the juice bar. Kimberly followed his gaze and hesitated, watching as Ernie cleaned out the inside of the blender, watching the TV, as well as speaking to Violet McKinley, who seemed to be half-listening to what he was saying. "It won't take long, and besides," he lowered his voice, sharing a secret smile with her. "We can teleport to catch up with the others if we need to."_

_Kimberly smiled back at him. "That's alright," she replied. "I can just get a bagel or a banana or something down at the launch site. Let's go!" She grabbed onto Adam's arm and tugged him forward_ _and out the Youth Center to catch up to their friends._

Adam leapt out of his chair and hurried after Kimberly. There was something really wrong with her, he knew it. He had seen her nearly fall off of the balance beam, but he had also seen how dizzy she had gotten before they had gone to Phaedos and how much she struggled when they had gotten their ninja powers.

He just hadn't said anything because he didn't think it was his place. He was just her friend, one he hadn't known very well or very long, but it didn't seem that Tommy had seen how much trouble she was having. Then he had seen how she had refused food before devouring the whole table without having seeming to notice it. The look of horror on her face…not this wasn't normal.

Adam went out the doors of the youth center and looked around for the pink ranger. It wasn't safe for her to be out at this time of night by herself. Hearing a retching sound, he turned and followed the sound towards the bushes that lined the front of the Youth Center. "Kim?" He called. As he walked closer, she spotted the hunched over form of the pink ranger kneeling on the grass, holding a finger in her mouth. He started to call her name again, but stopped when he saw her push her finger further back into his mouth, seconds before pulling it back and allowing herself to throw up.

"Kim?" Adam asked, his voice coming out in a whisper.

The pink ranger slowly turned to Adam, smoothing her hair back from her face. She lowered her gaze, not sure what to say. "I'm okay," she said weakly. "Something must've…something must've upset my stomach. But I'm fine now." She started to get to her feet.

Adam hurried over and grabbed onto her, helping her up. "Kim," he said firmly. "I saw you."

Kimberly looked up into the eyes of the black ranger then bowed her head.


	15. Infiltration

**Chapter 15**

_Infiltration_

* * *

"So the rangers are headed back to school today," Rita said, slouching over in her chair. "Good for them, at least it gives them something to do. I'm tired of sitting here and letting them defeat each and every one of our monsters so easily. There has to be something we can do that'll have them finally squashed like the little bugs they are."

"May I remind you, that your last batch of monsters didn't really fit the bill," Scorpina said. She then gave a half smile before motioning to herself. "Besides me, anyway," she added. "Now that I finally got that sniveling human away from me, I can get back to my full potential."

"I'll keep that in mind when I want to remember that you and Goldar singlehandedly killed off one of the only monsters that were capable of destroying them," Rita screeched. Scorpina lowered her head as Goldar, who was standing in the corner of the room, turned away. "I don't know what's going in your heads that makes you think I don't know everything that goes on around here. I know what your little plan is. But Zedd and I are stronger than you ever will be; remember that unless you want to be reduced to a pile of glitter."

There was a long moment of silence until Scorpina, through gritted teeth relented. "Yes, my queen." Goldar ever so engrained to only answer to Zedd remained silent. "Let us show you that we can be better. Send us down with Rito next time."

"Sorry, boys and girls, but I don't need a chaperone," Rito declared. "I can take care of myself." Lowering his hand from his sword, as he had been sharpening his skeleton nails against them, he went over to his sister. "I don't think you understand how it works around here. Rita and Zedd are the top dogs and then I'm the next in line. Not only am I stronger, but unlike you two I won't hesitate to kill when I get the chance."

Goldar let out a yell and charged towards Rito, his sword brought high. Rito reacted quickly and brought his sword, charging back towards the gold monster with a cry of his own. Their swords clashed in mid-air and the monsters took a step back before swinging once more. Once again, their swords clashed, sending out a spectacular array of sparks. "I'll rip you apart bone by bone and crush them when I get the chance," Goldar growled.

Rita rolled her eyes then lifted her magic wand and pointed it to the monsters. A bolt of electricity shot out of the jewel on her wand and struck the two monsters. Scorpina dutifully stood aside and watched. She examined her nails and buffed them on her chest as she waited for Goldar and Rito to come apart from each other.

"Are you bumbling idiots done?" Rita asked. Receiving nods in reply, Rita drummed her fingers on the staff of her wand. "Zedd and I will come up with something. We'll have to go bigger and better to make sure that the rangers and Zordon are defeated. Ivan…he did it in a matter of seconds, we have to get to the point where we completely crush their spirits and their bodies even if I have to do it myself." She turned on her heel and left the balcony.

Her joys of being able to watch the rangers had been squashed. No matter, that's what Kat was for. She had seen the girl while looking through the people around the world with the idea of potentially creating a new evil ranger. The last one hadn't gone over too well, but Tommy had been so enthralled by Kimberly and her charm so she wasn't exactly surprised to know that her spell had been broken. Girls were easier to work with, to turn evil. They were easy to manipulate and easy to string along, human guys did it with their emotions all the time but that was without the magic, she knew.

And then putting hers and Zedd's powers together, it had been incredibly easy to get Kat under their spell. To get her to the Lunar Palace and to manipulate her into convincing her father to move the family to Angel Grove, it had all been so easy. And the rangers would never see it coming, if there was to be another evil ranger they would expect it to be a strong guy. This was the better way to get a jump on them. First they needed the secrets from the rangers and they needed to wait for Kat to give them that information.

Now she needed to talk to Zedd to see what they were going to do next. Rita lifted her skirts as she walked up the stairs that led to her room, and lowered them back to the ground, allowing it to dust the floor as she went. Her footsteps were strong and determined as she went walked with a purpose to her room. They would come up with a plan, and she'd go through her spell book to find the best spells that would be used against the rangers. Maybe so that Kat wouldn't be able to have the spell over her broken, not even with the rangers' best efforts. Spells that would cause the next monsters they could come up with to be the most difficult they could ever come across. Anything that would make it so that the rangers would realize that she and Zedd were a force to be reckoned with.

As Rita approached her room, she frowned, seeing a Tenga standing outside of the doors, as if working as a guard. Rita glanced at the Tenga and moved to go into her room but the Tenga held out a wing, blocking her way. Disgruntled, Rita took a step back away from him. "What do you think you're doing, feather-brain."

"Sorry, I'm under direct orders from Zedd not to let anyone inside," the Tenga said, continuing to hold out its wing. Rita glared and grabbed onto the wing, pulling the Tenga closer to her. The Tenga squawked in surprise and pain as it was pulled towards her. "I'm sorry, Rita! But it's orders!"

"I don't care what your orders are, it's my room and I give _you_ the orders. Not the other way around!" Rita pulled the Tenga behind her with such force that it flew to the ground with a loud cracking sound. Screeching, the Tenga started to flap its wing, causing it to screech once more. Smirking, Rita glanced down at the broken wing of the Tenga before pushing open the doors to her room.

The first thing she noticed was that the room was unbearably warm, warmer than she usually liked. The second thing she noticed was that the lights were dimmed and there were candles all over the place. Then the sound reached her ears, the moaning and grunting that caused her upper lip to curl with disgust before she looked over towards her bed, where her eyes widened with rage before narrowing at the wiggling forms underneath the sheets.

She sucked in a deep breath, preparing herself before bellowing, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

There was a startled scream and Zedd's groan of annoyance before he flipped over and looked at his wife. Rita's eyes zeroed in on the naked woman that lay in her bed, underneath her husband. She immediately recognized the woman as one of the captives that she and Zedd had grabbed while they had destroyed planets in their wake. The concubine hadn't infuriated Rita, she wasn't exactly happy that he had insisted to keep these women around him, but she found entertainment in the torture of them. What bothered her was that she wasn't allowed to have slaves of her own, men that would do her bidding for her and she could enjoy in her own ways. The other thing that bothered her was that he had the audacity to do it in their bed.

Their shared space.

She loved her husband, but she also hated his guts.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Zedd shot back to her. He turned and sat up, holding the blankets over his lower half, not bothering to give any to the woman behind him. "The Tenga was supposed to make sure no one bothered us."

"He's tending to a broken _wing!"_ Rita screeched, throwing her wand at Zedd. He reached up a hand and easily deflected it away from him. "Get that wench out of my bed!" She walked over to the woman and grabbed onto her hair, wrapping her bony fingers around the tresses and yanked as hard as she could. The woman shrieked and fell out of the bed, scrambling to get to her feet as Rita forcibly led her to the door before throwing her to the ground outside the room and slamming the door shut behind her. Like a rattlesnake, she rounded on her husband, eyes flashing. "You're _dead_!"

Zedd tilted his head to the side in a lazy manner. "Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic?" He asked. "I'm only trying to make sure that I'm in top shape."

"For what? Leaving me?" Rita spat.

"I'm sorry, but you don't seem particularly interested whenever the time comes," Zedd shot back. "I'm sorry, but sometimes I feel the need to get some quick relief any way I can. You're not particularly begging for it, so why should it matter?"

"Because I love you, you moron," Rita said. "I _married_ you. And you won't even let me have the same thing." She gritted her teeth. "I don't care what you do, I just care that you did it in our _bed! Our_ bed, Zeddy! All the while I was defending you and how we work together amongst those idiots out there that want nothing more than to crush the rangers in the ground. And you're up here…"

Zedd climbed out of bed and walked over to his wife, placing a hand on her shoulder. "No need for that, my dear, I already have a plan," he remarked. "You see, I know something about that Great Power that the rangers don't seem to understand as of yet. We _will_ have those rangers in our grasp, starting with the weakest ones and moving to the strongest. Once they see that we have their friends, that we're slowly taking them over, they won't have a choice but to bow down to our will."

Rita slapped his hand off of her shoulder and turned away from him. "And you didn't feel that you needed to give me that sort of information before?"

"I was a little busy."

"I know. I caught the end show." Rita turned back to him. "She's not even that pretty."

"Nothing compares to your beauty," Zedd murmured. "I wouldn't have married you if that were the case. Don't worry my dear, there is nothing that could ever tear my away from you. Not even death. Now, let's go and make sure that our plan will run as smoothly as possible. We're not going to fail; this time I won't stop until every last ranger and everyone around them has taken their final breath."

Rita allowed herself to be turned and walked out of the bedroom. She looked down at the Tenga that continued to sit on the floor, nursing its wing. The woman she had thrown out had gone, probably taken back down to the dungeons.

She smirked at the Tenga as she walked by.

Now it knew not to mess with her.

* * *

Aisha brushed her long braids back behind her shoulders before leaning forward and checking out her face in the mirror. She made sure her makeup was perfectly placed, plucking out a clump from her mascara, then swiped one last swatch of lip-gloss onto her lips. Backing up, she checked out her outfit, a yellow blouse and a black skirt, then picked up her backpack and left the room.

"Bye Mom, bye Dad, I've got to get going," she said to her parents as she blew through the front door. "I'm going to be late after school; I'm working at the animal shelter."

"Oh that's right," Mrs. Campbell said with a warm smile. "You were talking about it all summer. It's an unpaid internship isn't it?" She gave her husband a half smile. "Should be considered community service if that's the case."

"Mom, you know I don't care if I get paid or not." Aisha walked into the kitchen and gave her father a kiss on the cheek and her mother a hug. "I'm doing what I enjoy. I really want to be a vet and this will help me get there." She paused, tapping her chin. "Though the money would've been really good to get back what I spent on back to school shopping."

"You, Kimberly, and Avalon came back with so many bags I'm surprised you didn't buy the entire store," Mr. Campbell remarked. "Girl, how many pairs of shoes do you own?" When the yellow ranger opened her mouth to reply, she was cut off by her father holding up a hand. "I don't even want to know the answer to that. You're just like your mother."

"Thank you for that compliment," Aisha teased. She looked towards the kitchen window as there was a loud, long honking. "Rocky's here," she said with a light laugh. "I gotta get going. I'll see you guys later."

"Tell that boy that if he ever comes up to the house, honking like that again his car better be on fire," Mr. Campbell called after her. Aisha laughed and bid her parents goodbye before leaving the house. She closed the door behind her and bounced down the steps, hurrying over to Rocky's truck. The yellow ranger climbed inside and delivered her father's news to the red ranger, who laughed.

"Oh come on," he said as Aisha buckled up. "Your father loves me. I'm like a son to him."

"Sure, a son that could give him a heart attack quicker than he'll get gray hair." Aisha reached out and pushed him on the shoulder as Rocky started up the car and backed out of the driveway. "So where's Adam? I thought he was first on your carpool list."

"He was," Rocky agreed. "But he said he was going to walk to school, he had a lot of think about." Silence hung in the air before he cleared his throat and continued. "It must've been really hard for him to see Sabrina just up and leave like that. She was captured by Rita and Zedd, and forcibly separated from Scorpina. I don't think there's any coming back from that."

"I know," Aisha agreed. "I just wish that he really had someone that he gelled with, you know? I mean, even back at Stone Canyon he was by himself and never really noticed it when girls were interested in him. It's senior year; we're supposed to be having the time of our lives, aren't we?"

Rocky gave her an amused glance before taking his right hand off the steering wheel to dig into the box of doughnuts that rested on the console in front of him. He took a large bite. "So what does that mean? Do you have anyone in mind that you want to go out with this school year?"

Cheeks reddening against her dark skin, Aisha lowered her gaze to her lap. She looked at Rocky out of the corner of her eye as she tried to form the words that wouldn't come. How was she supposed to put it? That she had a crush on him for a long time and was hoping he would notice her? It was a cliché that she had never wanted to go down and yet it had hit her across the face when she was only eleven years old and while she had found other boys cute and would even gush with Kimberly over the guys at Angel Grove High when the time came, but still, no one ever managed to match Rocky's charisma.

"Well, what about you?" She managed to change the subject. "Which girl have you set your sights on this time? It seems that you have a new object of affection every week."

"Not every _week_ ," he defended himself. "More like every month." This received a smack to the arm, causing the red ranger to swerve slightly as he tried to block off her attack. "Geez, woman, are you trying to get us killed?!"

Rolling her eyes, Aisha shook her head as she settled back into her seat. "So I heard that Kat is going to be joining us this year," she said. "We need to make sure that she feels like she fits in. Joining a new school isn't always easy."

"I don't know. We seemed to have made it just fine."

"Yeah, but she's not a power ranger…." The yellow ranger paused. "How are we supposed to keep going? We can't have our parents get dragged into this, not again. We already had to have them move. We've already been hanging out with Kat for a while since the summer, but this is different. The summer, we were all doing so much that I made sense when we suddenly have to leave for our ranger duties. How are we going to do it in school? How can we explain that we can't have her get too close or else she'll get in harm's way?"

"You can't," Rocky said plaintively. "We have to keep going the same way we did before. Keep secrets and hope that no one else gets too close." Aisha noticed that his voice had immediately turned hard and she looked over at him in surprise.

What could it be that caused that sneer on his face? This was the guy that always had a smile on his face despite the worst situations they could be put in. Even when on Phaedos, trying to find the Great Power he managed to crack a few jokes and make the rangers smile, just so that they didn't have to continuously think about the danger they were going through and what was happening to Zordon. No, this had to be something else that was bothering him. _What could it be? He hasn't said anything out of the ordinary and he's not great at keeping secrets. The only thing I've seen him this upset was when…_

"It's your dad isn't it?" She asked, turning to him. Rocky sucked in a deep breath and let it out through his nose as he nodded, causing Aisha to gasp and bring her hand up to her mouth. "He's not dead is he?"

"I wish," Rocky muttered. "No, he's….he came back…to the house, 'Sha. He visited the family. Mom and I…we talked to him a little bit. He wants to come back into our lives. He says he made a mistake." A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Years way and he wants to come back into our lives like nothing happened?"

"What _did_ happen?" Aisha pressed.

"Mom tried to talk to him a bit but I couldn't stand it. He started to beg to come back and Mom looked like she wanted to do it. I told him to get out and Mami and I got into a fight. I just…I just don't see how she could ever think that him being back around was a good idea. It's not good for any of us, for the little ones…" he fell silent once more and the two continued to ride in silence as Rocky pulled into the parking lot of the high school and slid into a free space. "I don't want him around any of us."

"He doesn't have to be if you don't want him to," the yellow ranger said gently. Rocky nodded as he turned off the car. "But we don't have to talk about it." She leaned forward and picked up the box of doughnuts that continued to rest on the dashboard. "Now, take a doughnut and let's go find our friends."

"At least it'll take my mind off things," Rocky said. He took a doughnut out of the box and inspected it, then hesitated before taking the whole box. Aisha let out a peal of laughter and the two climbed out of the truck and headed towards the school.

Across the grass, Kat slowly walked up towards the front steps of Angel Grove High, lightly holding onto the straps of her pink backpack. Her lips curled up as she watched the students amble along inside. So many people that were potential targets for Rita and Zedd, but so little time. The first thing she had to do was find the rangers and stick to them like glue. It helped that she had asked the school if there was anyone that could show her around, having already figured out that each of the rangers were on the list to do so. So at least there was a seven in fifteen chance that she was going to get at least one of them.

Taking in a quick breath, butterflies suddenly erupted into Kat's stomach. Here she was, starting another school year but at a different school this time. Her friends weren't around her, she didn't have the ocean waves gently breaking in the distance as she walked to school…it didn't even smell the same. But, she had to make the best of the situation. Kat took a step and soon she found herself traversing the walls until she made it to the administrative offices.

"Yes, I'm Katherine Hillard, I'm supposed to be meeting my guide here," she said in her calm, demure voice. The receptionist nodded and searched along her desk for the name of the student that was to be helping her. Finally, she found it and quickly looked it over.

"Ah, yes, Tommy Oliver is going to be showing you around, Miss. Hillard," the receptionist said.

"Tommy?" Kat's eyebrows rose. "I met him at the Youth Center earlier this summer. That's great." She smiled. "Now I'll at least know someone before the school year actually starts." She bit her lower lip, gently twisting herself back and forth. "Can you tell I'm nervous? Is it that obvious?"

"A little bit dear, but Angel Grove High is a great place to get your education," the receptionist said warmly. "Not only are there a lot of clubs and organizations that you can become a part of, but the social life around here is great. For example there's a football game this Friday that all of the students go to, and then there are the choir concerts, the dances, spirit week and homecoming, a lot that I'm sure you would find enjoyment in." She looked at her watch. "Though I do hope that you get a chance to find your locker. As sweet as Tommy is, he does have a tendency to be a little late, even on his best days."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll make it soon," Kat said calmly.

She turned and scanned the hallways, watching as the students of Angel Grove High milled around. She looked up and down the hallways before spotting the familiar head of brown hair coming her way, standing tall over the students that came up to his shoulders if not a bit taller. Kat waved at him and Tommy caught her eye, waving back. Kat started towards the white ranger, slowing when she spotted Kimberly holding onto his hand, talking animatedly to him about something.

She twisted her mouth to the side then lowered her gaze, before lifting it once more and smiling brightly as the white and pink rangers came to a stop in front of her. "Hi Tommy, hi Kim." She looked at the white ranger. "So I heard you're the one that's going to be showing me around the school. "I hope there's not too much to show."

"Oh don't worry," Kimberly said with a wave of her hand. "It all looks big but it's pretty easy to get around in here. You'll figure it out." She reached out her hand and grabbed onto Kat's wrist. "C'mon, your locker is this way, its right next to mine."

"Oh, that's great!" Kat said.

 _"Don't blow it,"_ Rita's voice came into her head as Kat could feel the space witch's hold on her loosen. _"We need to make sure that we can get enough information from them out of possible."_

Kat nodded to herself and tuned back into Kimberly's explanation as to why Tommy was late. "So initially it's his own fault, as it seems like a watch doesn't even help him." She elbowed her boyfriend n the side a she rolled his eyes, arm still around Kimberly's shoulders. "But it's also my fault, I couldn't find what I wanted to wear for my back to school outfit." She gestured to her pink crop top, jean shorts, jean vest, and brown boots that adorned her lithe body. "I couldn't' find anything that fit."

"Really?" Kat looked the pink ranger up and down. "Your clothes look great, Kim. You don't have to worry about it."

Kimberly's nose wrinkled as she brushed her hair back, looking down at her clothes. "You think so? It took forever to pick this out; I hope its good enough." She turned back to Tommy and looped an arm around his waist. "Well, he thinks so, but he's been trained to say those things. Right, Handsome?" She teased with a smile.

"Right, Beautiful," Tommy replied. He then addressed Kat. "So how does Angel Grove High feel to you so far? I wouldn't think that it's too much like your old high school."

"No, not really," Kat agreed. She stepped out of the way of a couple of boys that walked towards her, looking her up and down as they went. Maneuvering herself to Tommy's other side; Kat looked up at him, giving a small smile. "But it is different. I think I'll get used to it soon enough. I just hope the teachers are okay."

"Oh, they're great," Tommy said. "Especially Ms. Appleby."

"Yeah, she teaches a lot of stuff here, sometimes she's a sub, but she's the best teacher you can have," Kimberly said. "In fact, I think she may be our homeroom teacher this year as well, we'll check once you get your schedule after morning meeting." She looked down the hall and started to walk faster when she spotted their friends. "Oh, there are the guys, c'mon."

Tommy, Kat, and Kimberly walked over to Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Billy, and Avalon as they milled around their lockers. "Hey guys," Tommy greeted them, giving Billy a high-five. "You ready to start another school year."

"Geniuses aside," Avalon remarked, nodding over at Billy who gave a modest shrug. "I think the rest of us are quaking in our boots." She brushed her hair out of her face. "Mum says that I shouldn't worry so much about my grades senior year, but I think we all know that it's supposed to be the toughest year."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rocky agreed. "Having to do our regular school work _and_ worry about SAT scores and college applications."

"Not to mentions sports practices and different committees we'll be a part of," Adam added. He looked around the halls of Angel Grove. "Soon this place will be nothing but a distant memory."

"Ugh, guys, don't be so depressing," Aisha said. "You're forgetting about all of the dances, the pep rally, the sporting events, and the senior trip. You're forgetting all about that. Don't act like the world is ending on this poor girl's first day." She went over to Kat and placed her hands on her arms, gently shaking her. "Don't worry about them, girl, this year is going to be great."

Giggling, Kat tucked her hair behind her ears before nodding. "I hope so," she agreed.

"Well, I hate to burst the friendly bubble we have going on," Billy said, looking at his watch. "But we have to get going to the auditorium or we'll miss the announcement Mr. Kaplan is supposed to give." He shrugged. "I'm sure it's something we don't want to miss."

"I'm guessing it'll have to do something about goal setting," Kimberly said.

"Networking," Tommy added.

"Or practicing being better people," Avalon finished, speaking of the common topics that Mr. Kaplan subjected to those that were in detention or he caught people to listen to him. "If not a combination of the three topics, yeah?"

Billy smiled. "Be that as it may, I don't think Tommy's school record could take another tardy." He tilted his head and started the group towards the auditorium. Kat followed after them, continuing to look around at the students as they passed by them, filing into the auditorium.

Kat settled down into her seat at the end of a row and listened as the famed Mr. Kaplan stepped up to the podium and started his speech. Something about the events of the year before—school invasion, monsters, casualties, wanting to start new for the next year. She didn't pay close attention to what he was saying, no. She was too preoccupied watching the rangers next to her as they listened to his speech.

Every now and then they would looked away from Mr. Kaplan, someone would clench their hand into a fist, fake a cough, things that immediately showed their discomfort.

But what skyrocketed their discomfort to full blown distress was when their communicators went off—the melodic peal breaking the silence of the auditorium.


	16. The Kat Has Claws

**Chapter 16**

_The Kat Has Claws_

* * *

At Angel Grove Middle School, Bailey and Fred had been sitting in their own morning announcements when Bailey's communicator went off. The purple ranger's eyes flew wide open as a low murmur went through the room, trying to find the source of the sound. She quickly pulled off her communicator and slid it into her backpack, hopefully to muffle the sound.

Fred lowered himself in his seat, stretching out his legs. "What's going on?" He murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"I have no idea," Bailey replied, pretending to mess with her hair as she turned towards Fred so that she could hear him. "Normally nothing happens this early in the day. I have no idea what it could be that's going on." She sucked in a sharp breath as she could hear a muffled grinding sound and her lion zord poked its heard out of her backpack with her communicator in its mouth.

It went off once more, causing her to jump.

"Whoa what is that?" The boy to her left asked.

Bailey leaned forward and shoved the lion zord deep into her backpack before picking it up and getting to her feet. She quickly left the auditorium and ducked out into the hallway, holding her backpack to her chest as she went. She turned around as Fred came out from the auditorium as well. "I told the teachers that you got an emergency call."

"How am I going to explain that later?" She asked. "Both of Tommy's parents are fine and my Mum and Dad are gallivanting about Oz."

Fred shot her an annoyed glance. "It was the first thing that I could come up with on such short notice." He looked around before leaning towards her. "What did Zordon have to say?"

"I'll let you know." Bailey slapped her communicator back onto her wrist and lifted it to her mouth. "What's going on, Zordon? Is it Rito?"

"Precisely," Zordon replied. "There has been a disturbance that has come across our sensors. You and the rest of the rangers need to get to the Command Center as quickly as possible."

"I'm on my way." Bailey lowered her communicator and turned to Fred, grabbing onto his hand. "I hope you get used to the feeling of teleporting, mate," she said before teleporting the two to the Command Center in a flash of purple and white light. Once they arrived, the two turned and went over to the group of older teenagers as they arrived as well. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Dunno, we just got here," Avalon said. She nodded over at Fred, who nodded back, and joined the rangers as they turned towards Alpha and Zordon to see what was going on. "Though I'm sure we'll all have some interesting news to get back to once the fight is over."

"I apologize for the inconvenience, rangers," Alpha said to them. "But we have some news. Rito is attacking the city. There doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to why he is doing this other than trying to lure you out. You should be on your guard to make sure you're not being led into an ambush."

"You got it, Zordon," Tommy agreed. He turned and looked at the viewing globe where black and purple feathered monsters were flapping back and forth across the screen. "Looks like we've got the Tengas to work with, too."

"We can take them," Rocky said firmly.

"I'll stay here and help out Alpha and Zordon as much as I can," Fred suggested. "Maybe we can figure out what it is that they're doing and what they want to try and attack for this time." He shrugged. "Though from what I've seen, there haven't really been many reasons as to attacking opposed to them being trigger happy."

"Yeah, well, that's what Rita seems to enjoy doing," Kimberly pointed out. "Running us ragged until they get an actual idea to take over the city." She exchanged a smile with Aisha, who nodded in agreement. "We can handle them."

"And be back in enough time so that we don't get detention," Billy agreed.

"Detentions aren't that bad," Avalon remarked. "Plenty of time to get some homework done and half the time you can just talk to the teacher about thing that are going on in school, yeah?" The orange ranger crossed her arms as she tilted her head to the side. "Then again, I've been in detention enough times I'm on a first name basis with half of them."

"Well, someone had to be the scapegoat," Adam said, receiving a glare in response.

"Let's go," Bailey said.

Tommy nodded and the rangers got into formation. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" They all declared and morphed into their ninjetti suits before teleporting to the battle scene. Tengas chased Angel Grove residents back and forth across the street as they went to their jobs, Rito standing aside and directing them to run about.

"That's right, watch them run like chickens with their heads cut off!" Rito laughed. A few of the Tenga that were nearby stopped and looked at him in horror. "It's just an expression chuckleheads, get going!" He turned back to the Tengas and watched as they continued to wreak havoc. "Go! Go!" He took a step back as the rangers appeared in front of him. "Not you guys! Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Yeah, stopping you," Tommy declared. "We're not going to allow you to destroy anymore of our city."

"Oh, so the rainbow squad thinks they're going to beat me?" Rito glared and pointed her sword at him. "We'll just see about that! Get them!" The Tengas turned from the citizens of Angel Grove and charged towards the rangers.

"Get ready guys," Tommy said. The rangers nodded and held out their hands, allowing their weapons to come into their grasp. "Falcon Flyer!" He held up his renovated White Tiger Wind Wheel, not with Flacon aspects to it. The rest of the rangers' new weapons had been changed to accumulate their new powers and animal spirits.

"Crane Lasher!" Kimberly called.

"Wolf Howler!" Billy's stinger appeared in her hands.

"Ape Arsenal!" Rocky's blaster appeared in his hands.

"Bear Brigade!" Aisha's large fan appeared in her hands.

"Frog Force!" Adams's mace appeared in his hands.

"Tiger Token!" Avalon's shield appeared in her hands.

"Lion Lancer!" Bailey's new and improved chain sickle appeared in her hands.

The rangers gripped their weapons and hurried towards the Tengas, immediately launching into attack. Tommy and Aisha teamed up as their weapons fed off each other. As Aisha blasted waves of wind towards the Tengas with her fan, Tommy's wind wheels shot through the air, following the stream of air and crashed into the Tengas, knocking them over. Kimberly and Billy used their whips to grab onto the wing of the Tengas and pulled them to the ground. Bailey and Adam used their cannon and mace to attack the Tengas at the closest distance to them while Avalon slid in with her shield to block them off each time they were to get hit from their blind spots. Rock finished off the Tengas with blasts of his cannon, knocking them back until they started to fly off, leaving Rito behind.

"Hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Rito howled after them. "You can't just leave me here!"

"Looks like you're outnumbered, Rito," Tommy declared as the rangers slowly advanced on him.

"Give up," Bailey added. "You're ours now."

Instead of appearing worried, Rito placed his hands on his hips. "Oh really?" He asked. "I think my friend would beg to differ." He motioned upwards just as there was a loud crashing sound and the rangers turned to see a fifty—maybe even more—foot cat monster hurrying towards the city on all fours, cries of triumph coming from its mouth as it went. "Hope you don't get struck by a furball!" With a loud laugh, Rito disappeared in a rush of flames and skulls.

"Whoa, looks like we really _were_ being brought into an ambush," Rocky declared.

"It's not anything that we can't get rid of," Billy reminded his friends.

"Looks like we're going to be taking it to the vet," Adam agreed. "Let's do this!"

"It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

"We need ninja zord power, now!" The rangers all cried.

"Orange Tiger, ninja zord, power up!"

"Purple Lion, ninja zord, power up!"

"Red Ape, ninja zord, power up!"

"Black Frog, ninja zord, power up!"

"Pink Crane, ninja zord, power up!"

"Blue Wolf, ninja zord, power up!"

"Yellow Bear, ninja zord, power up!"

"White Ninja, Falconzord, power up!"

The rangers leapt into the cockpits of their zords and quickly got to work against the cat monster that continued towards them. The lion, tiger, and wolf zords all leapt up and did a quick flip, striking the cat monster with their tails. Aisha quickly followed up with the bear zord stomping the ground, causing the earth to shake and the cat monster to lose its balance. The frog zord came up next breathing fire out of its front, giving Kimberly enough time to bring the crane zord around to strike it with lasers from the rocket bay. Then Rocky came up next with the ape zord, crashing into the cat's chest. It picked the monster up, spun it around a few times and threw it aside before pounding itself against its chest.

"Nice try!" The cat monster purred as she twisted through the air and landed on her feet. "You're going to have to try harder than that!" She shrieked as the falcon zord came around and blasted her in the back with its own lasers. "Why not try this on for size?!" The cat monster flipped backward and charged towards the Frog Zord and leapt over it before raking her claws down the front of the wolf zord, knocking it backwards.

The cat monster continued to flash back and forth against the zords, using its agility and balance to keep itself upright as the rangers continued to try and attack her, but found her to be too powerful. Tommy swept the falcon zord down towards the cat monster but cried out as the wing of the zord was suddenly caught by an upward swipe of the cat's claws.

"Tommy! Are you okay?!" Kimberly called in alarm.

"Yeah, but thaws close," Tommy said as he swung the falconzord out of the way at the last minute. "This isn't working guys; we need to bring it all together! Battle mode, now!" The rangers' zords all came together to create the Ninja Megazord in its battle mode. The rangers directed the ninja Megazord high up into the air, using the wings of the Falconzord to lift them up.

"Falcon Megazord, power punch!"

The FalconMegazord shot through the air aiming back down towards the cat monster. But the cat monster rolled out of the way in enough time to have the attack miss her, though she didn't get cleared out of the way, enough so that her right arm got struck by a wing and an arm of the FalconMegazord. Hissing, the cat monster was teleported out of the area.

The rangers then teleported back to the Command Center. "Power down!" Tommy declared and the rangers all returned to their street clothes. Swallowing thickly, the purple ranger took a step forward.

"What was that?" She asked. "Why did the cat monster not continue to attack?"

"From what we saw on the viewing globe, it was probably just a means to test out the monster," Fred spoke up. He took off his hat and scratched the back of his head. "I mean, not only did it seem like she was wasting you guys, no offense, but that monster, if it survived a blast like that, it seems she may be even stronger than you already think."

"Fred has a point," Billy agreed. "We never know that Rita and Zedd have up their sleeves and we're only just getting used to our new zords and everything." He started to pace back and forth. "But if that is true, why did they wait until _now_ to bring her about."

"And are they planning something else we're not aware of?" Adam pointed out.

Bailey snorted, gently shaking her head. "By now, guys, I think we know they're always planning something else, yeah? It's just a matter of what it is." She looked at her watch. "But it's not anything that we can worry about when we don't even know what it is that's going on. Knowing those two, something is going to be spilled before we even get a chance to figure it out themselves. But we're going to have to worry about it later, or else we're going to run ourselves ragged."

"She has a point," Aisha agreed. "Worrying about something you can't change is never good."

"She's just worried about her perfect GPA plummeting by the second she's not there," Avalon teased and then sobered. "Though I don't blame her, I need to keep up my grades, too. We'll have to come up with some excuse for us leaving."

"Well." Rocky put his arm around Avalon's shoulders. "You're not our scapegoat for nothing."

Avalon rolled her eyes as the other rangers laughed, missing the frown that graced Billy's face. "Whatever, let's get going." She turned to Bailey and Fred. "We'll see you guys later."

"Hoo roo." Bailey waved before she teleported herself and Fred back to the middle school. They landed in the outdoor lunch area and hurried across the grass before ducking back inside the school and heading towards their lockers. "That cat monster…I don't know but I think there's something we should really be paying attention to there. Rita and Zedd like to show off what they're doing, so why was it that this monster came down and not Scorpina? It doesn't make sense."

"Do you _really_ think that there's something else going on?" Fred asked, eyebrows rising. "I mean, yes, I understand that they may have wanted to try and surprise us. But I think that there's something really simple we're just overlooking."

Bailey frowned and nodded in agreement as she arrived at her locker. She pulled it open and placed her backpack inside, being careful to take the lion zord out and place it on the top shelf. She then grabbed her books and put them into the bag, hooking it up over her shoulder. There were too many things that she needed to think about, the zords, the new powers, the new monsters, and not only that, but everything in her own personal life. She knew something was going on with her sister that she wasn't talking about, she was dealing with her own feelings for Fred that continued to freak her out day by day, and now he was working in the Command Center with the other rangers.

On one hand it really helped so that she didn't have to worry about trying to keep things from him and he had really helped when everything with Ivan Ooze went down. But his father had gotten hurt and he constantly put himself into harm's way without having any way to defend himself, all when she didn't have her own powers to defend him with.

What if something else happened?

"What?" Fred asked, peering at her.

"Nothing." Bailey closed her locker door. "I was just wondering when everything was going to get easier." Fred let out a mixture of a scoff and a sigh and put his arm around her shoulders as the two started to walk down the hall.

"School is the easiest part," he reminded her. "Especially with coming up with some sort of excuse that'll keep people from constantly questioning why you disappeared."

"I think you can handle that one," Bailey remarked. "You got my secrets, I'll deal with the crime fighting."

"Deal."

* * *

"Hey Bulkie, where do you think we're going to end up after this?" Skull asked, inspecting the sandwich that sat in from to f him. Bulk, who had just taken a large bite of food, screwed up his face in thought before replying.

"What do you mean, Skull?" He asked. "After this we're going to start patrolling Angel Grove as the best cops of the city." Skull laughed loudly when Bulk, who had continued to chew while he talked, sucked in a large piece of food and coughed it back up, shooting it across the room. Bulk joined in on the laughter when it struck a fellow cadet in the back of the head. His laughter faded as he looked at Skull. "You know, it'd been a long time since we laughed like that. They don't really like us goofing off here, not like when we were back in high school."

"Well, they never liked us goofing off back then either," Skull pointed out. "Remember? We got kicked out."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Bulk said. He scowled a little as he thought about it. His mother had been very disappointed when he had to go back to the house and told her he had been kicked out of school. His father basically hadn't said anything other than he was going to get a job so that he wouldn't be wasting time.

Becoming a police officer had been the last thing Bulk had thought he would have ever found himself doing. Especially with Skull by his side. He remembered how much he hadn't liked him when he first met, especially as he found Skull to be very annoying. But something had clicked between the two boys and they had become inseparable. Frankly, he wouldn't think of going into the police academy without Skull by his side. It was good to know there was someone that would be with him as they struggled to get through the classes and tests.

But things had been going well; even Lt. Stone had started to see they weren't the same goofy bullies they had been in high school. It was all a matter of envy, he could admit now. Ever since he was young he had always been one of the bigger ones in the class and his classmates were scared of him. With only Skull as his friend, Bulk constantly wondered what it was that he had done that continued to have people afraid of him and he could admit he was kind of lonely. So he lashed out at everyone around him and Skull followed suit, their terrorization of their classmates bringing them together though what Bulk really wanted was a sort of group of friends that the rangers had.

Instead, they had a group of misfits that banded together in being bullies to those that went to their school. Sharky had been the first one to join their group and she was just as nasty as the guys were, and then there was Joel, who had left the school shortly after the first monster attack on Angel Grove. After that it had been Bulk, Skull, and Sharky until she had been sent away to live with her relatives, until recently, anyway.

"So what do you think of what happened with Sharky?" He asked Skull. "If we hadn't gotten into this, we might've ended up the same way," he pointed out. Skull nodded and rested his chin in his hand. Bulk tilted his head to the side, recognizing the curious expression on his face. "What?"

"I just wonder what would've happened if we really _did_ end up the same way," Skull pointed out. "We would've been in jail, Bulkie. Like actual jail. My Mom would have a heart attack. She probably wouldn't be able to stop crying." He gently shook his head. "I guess if we didn't get expelled from school then we wouldn't have turned our lives around." He shook his head. "As for Sharky, it really sucks to see how badly things have gone for her." He shrugged. "But I guess we can turn things around if Lt. Stone decided to give her a break."

"Yeah," Bulk agreed. _Maybe if she gets put on probation we can be the ones to make sure that things get better for her._ He voiced his thoughts to Skull, who immediately perked up.

"That's a great idea! It'd be a good way to make sure that she doesn't completely relapse," Skull agreed. He fell silent for a moment. "I wonder what it was that caused her to start acting out so much, that caused her to get sent away. I doubt the monster attacks had anything to do with it and even we weren't that bad."

Bulk shrugged. "Maybe her parents thought we were bad influences on her," he pointed out. "It's not really that far of a stretch." He scratched the back of his head and shook his head. "I don't want to be seen that way, anymore. Even when we stopped being bullies and just went after the power rangers to see if we could figure out their identities—"

"—which I'm surprised we hadn't figured out before," Skull broke in.

Skull laughed. "Yeah. Even when we were trying to figure out the identities of the rangers, we were still seen as annoying creeps that didn't really have much going on in school. This is better than helping out the rangers those few times and helping save the world from Ivan Ooze." He looked away for a moment. "I don't really care about the fame and recognition from it; it was just good to be able to help the best we could. And if we can do that for Sharky, then we _'_ ve succeeded a little."

Bulk nodded as he tried to hide his smile. He hadn't thought about it much when he was younger, considering he was too busy chasing after Kimberly and Trini, but he knew that their friend had been jealous of the attention that Skull had shown the pink ranger. Now, Bulk didn't care much for who liked who and who was dating who, but it was funny to see how much attention Sharky had thrown Skull's way and he hadn't noticed.

 _It seems to be going the other way now,_ Bulk thought, hiding his smile with another bite of his lunch. _I just hope we can help her._ So far they had managed to help Avalon when she had been shot by the Vipers, and that was a really eye opening call they had been on, seeing their friend lying on the ground like that had shown Bulk and Skull it was something they really wanted to do. Then they had helped Bailey save the Earth from Ivan Ooze and kept the parents from killing themselves, further proving this was what they were supposed to be doing in life.

Now they had the chance to help someone else.

Maybe they weren't such losers after all.

* * *

Kimberly had been sitting quietly in her study hall, the only class she had without another ranger with her, when she heard the door to the room open. Looking away from her novel, she spotted Adam walk into the room and say something to the teacher before motioning for Kim to follow him. The pink ranger hesitated for a minute before gathering her thing and leaving the room with him.

The two walked along the hallway for a few moments before Adam stopped at the large staircase and sat down on it. Kimberly sat down next to him, carefully putting her backpack on the ground. She could hear the sound of her makeup caddy moving aside along with the sound of pills shifting around. Her mind immediately flashed back to that morning when she had been talking to her mom.

"Kim, honey, is that all you're going to eat for breakfast?" Mrs. Hart asked her daughter as she sat down at the kitchen table with a half a grapefruit in front of her.

The pink ranger nodded and picked up the jar of sugar to lightly sprinkle over the pink fruit. "I have a whole new diet I'm working on to make sure I'm in top shape for gymnastics," she explained. "Today I'm doing a bunch of weights, I have protein powder and stuff that I'm going to be drinking all day to make sure I gain all the muscles and stuff I need." She brushed her hair from her face and avoided her mother's eyes as she started to slide her spoon into her fruit.

That's what she was focusing on now, gaining muscle. The dizziness she had started to feel while fighting as a ranger, even just walking around the school had started to scare her. It was just the fact these wasn't eating a lot. That was fine, she wasn't getting the nutrients. _All you have to do is replace that with protein powder and you'll be okay,_ Kim thought. _This is what you need to be a better gymnast and a stronger ranger. This is what you need to do to make sure you're as strong as everyone else around you._

"What do you have for your lunch?" Ms. Hart pressed.

"I have a lot, mommy, it's just when it comes to gymnastics that's a problem," Kimberly said calmly. "I mean, I have to think about putting too much food in my stomach when I'm doing flips and tricks and stuff." She rolled her eyes. "Last thing I need is to puke all over the floor when I'm in mid-air."

Ms. Hart laughed loudly, warming her hands with her coffee mug. She laughed harder when Kimberly shot her a disapproving look. "Sorry, the image I had of it was just so funny." She cleared her throat and hunkered back down to her food. "How's school going? I know it only just started, but its' your senior year, you already have so much that's going on." Kimberly noticed an odd expression flash across her mother's face, but didn't press it.

"There's so much I have to do, Mommy, but I'm so excited," Kimberly gushed. "There're the dances and the clubs, and the sports, and the events. And the parties and the senior trip…" she took another few bites of the grapefruit and pushed it away from her, hiding it underneath her napkin. "I just want to be able to look back and say I had the best year of school ever. Who knows what'll happen once this year ends. Will I keep going with gymnastics? Will I go to college? What'll happen with me and Tommy? Will we split up? I don't know." She shrugged. "It's all so…coming up so quickly. Everything! I'm surprised I can handle it all."

"Sweetie, if there's anyone I know that can handle doing this like this, balancing all of their work and their social life, it's you," Ms. Hart pointed out. She then sighed. "Speaking of which, you know how I've been seeing someone and how I've been trying to get you to meet him but something comes up?"

Kimberly nodded. _Yeah, something like Rita and Zedd throwing out some more monsters for us to fight._ "Yeah, I know."

"Well, I _really_ want you to meet him, honey. Things are getting pretty serious between us and I think that it's the best time for you two to meet each other." Ms. Hart paused and studied her daughter for her reaction. Kimberly blankly looked back at her mother for a long moment. "Honey, is that okay? Do you like the idea?"

Finally, the pink ranger snapped to attention and smiled. "Yeah, Mom, I think this is a great idea. And you're right; it's the best time for us to meet. He can…come over for dinner or something." She looked at her watch. "I have to go or else I'll be running behind for my gymnastics practice." She got up from her seat and went over to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later, Mommy." She hurried to her room, stopping by the bathroom first. Peeking her head out the doorway, Kimberly reached inside the medicine cabinet and picked up the diet pills she had found hidden behind the many rows of makeup, deodorant, and facial cleansers.

She stuffed them into her bag and hurried back downstairs and out the front door before her mother could come up the stairs and catch her. She didn't think she'd need to use it, only if her gaining muscles didn't come as quickly as she wanted to. It wasn't a big deal.

But now, sitting with Adam, knowing what he was about to talk to her about, she wanted nothing but to flush them down the toilet. "Adam," she said. "Before you start, I just want to say that what I'm doing isn't really a big deal."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Adam pointed out. He leaned back against the stairs and looked out in front of him for a moment before turning his gaze to Kim. "I don't want to argue about what's going on, I just want to make sure you're okay. What you're doing…it could really hurt yourself."

"But I'm not, Adam," Kimberly insisted. "I'm just trying to get a good base set of muscles. I'm just trying to get stronger. Not only am I the weakest ranger, but I'm the one that only gets into the most amount of trouble when we're fighting. I mean, when we were on Phaedos, I always had to have Tommy come and help me. When we were just fighting Rito this morning…"

"Kim, we're all getting used to our new powers," Adam pointed out. "I mean, we all need help from each other when we get the chance." He finally looked the pink ranger in the eye. "But you're not the weakest one of us," he maintained. "None of us are essentially weak; we're all strong in different areas of fighting."

"Then what am I good at?" Kimberly demanded. "Tommy is the best sword smith, Av is the best sharp shooter, Rocky is the fastest, you has the best reflexes, Billy is the strongest, Aisha has the best endurance, Bailey is the most systematic!" She threw her hands into the air. "Not only that, but with our new powers, everyone else is better than me at everything! So what am I? Where do I fall within this whole thing?"

Kimberly let out a heavy sigh and leaned forward, resting her face in her hands. She was silent for a long time then turned towards Adam with a half smile on her face. "I'm really starting to sound like a whiny little brat aren't I?"

Adam sat up straight and put his arm around the pink ranger's shoulders, giving her a warm hug. Kimberly smiled at the black ranger and leaned into his hug before pushing her hair back from her face. "Not a _whiny_ brat," he said and Kimberly gently elbowed him in the side. "Kim, you're not a brat. You just have some insecurities. We all do. I mean, coming in after Zack, Trini, and Jason…Rocky, Aisha and I have to fill some pretty big shoes and sometimes I don't think we're able to do that. I always wonder what it's going to take for you guys to want to…I don't know. Kick us out and replace us or something."

The pink ranger's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? We could never replace you guys. The powers chose you for a reason. Jason, Zack, and Trini all saw you guy as good replacements for them and you are. We couldn't get rid of you now even if we wanted to." She added the last part teasingly, before rubbing Adam's knee. "Ad, you guys are great rangers and great friends. You shouldn't worry about something like that. We're a team and we're always going to be a team."

Adam slowly smiled as he listened to what Kimberly had to say. He then sat up straighter than he had before. "Thanks, Kim."

"You're welcome."

Kimberly leaned over and gave Adam a huge hug. _I did it,_ she thought. She managed to get Adam off the conversation about her eating. If she could continue to keep him and the others away from the subject, she'd be fine. _Everything's going to be okay._

What the two rangers didn't know was that Kat had been listening to the conversation from around the corner, watching the pink and black rangers intently. And as they hugged she lifted a camera and took a picture of them, smirking to herself as her eyes flashed red.

She rubbed her arm before turning and walking away.


	17. Prison Break

**Chapter 17**

_Prison Break_

* * *

"I want to go see her."

Captain Mitchell blinked down at his daughter as he closed the front door to the house behind him. Dana stood by the front door dressed in a white sweater and loose fitting jeans. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a lose ponytail, showing off the stern expression on her face that she directed towards her father. He let out a heavy sigh, taking off his hat and scratching his forehead before carefully placing it on the banister.

"You want to go see whom?" He asked. Stepping around her, he walked back towards the kitchen, dropping his gym bag to the floor as he went. He could hear Dana's footsteps follow after him and tried not to let his irritation show. She hadn't spoken more than a few words to him over the past couple of weeks and now she was suddenly speaking to him once more. "And don't speak to me that way, you may be angry with me, but I'm still your father."

"Yes, sir." Dana quickly, albeit sarcastically, corrected herself. "I want to go see Ellie. The woman that you cheated on Mom with. I want to know what her part of the story is. Then…I want to meet Avalon and Bailey."

That stopped Captain Mitchell in his tracks. He turned back to face his daughter and stared at her. As he looked at her it was as if he was suddenly seeing her for the first time. She wasn't that little girl that he had taken care of by himself after his wife passed; she wasn't the little girl that had waited around for her father to come home so she could tell him everything about his day, who greeted him at the door with a bright smile and lots of hugs and kisses. No, she had grown up and was now a teenage girl that was trying to make figure out the workings of the world, who had that world shattered as she figured out the trust behind everything.

She learned that life didn't always go the way she wanted or thought it would and that had been a nasty shock for her. In a way he was proud that she was turning around and working through what life had handed her. She was very headstrong, he'd give her that.

"What made you decide on that, Dana?" He sighed. This was just like her, once he thought he had her figured out, she tripped him up. Maybe he never really knew her in the first place. _Focus._

Dana stalked towards him, her movements unhurried. "I want to know everything," she said calmly. Her voice revealed just how serious she was about the situation. That caught him even more off guard. "I want to know what it was that she thought about the whole ordeal. I want to know about Avalon and Bailey. I want to know what it is about them that made you continue to follow them around. I want to know everything, Dad, and the only way that can happen is if I meet her."

Speechless, Captain Mitchell gently shook his head. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, working to hear everything Dana had said to him. And she was right. He couldn't keep her in the dark anymore. Here she was practically pleading for his help to understand things and he was focused on keeping it quiet as long as he possibly could.

"Okay." The stunned expression on his face almost made him laugh. "We'll go see her tomorrow. I'll take the day off, I'll call her right now to make sure that she'll be available to meet with us." He turned to go then stopped. Dana was still looking at him. "Did I grow a second head?"

"I didn't think…you'd agree to do it," Dana admitted. "I thought you'd want to avoid it. Change the subject. Yell at me."

"Why would I yell at you?"

Now Dana looked stumped. "I don't know. I just never thought it would be this easy." She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her nose, looking up at her father. "Shouldn't you put up a better fight or something?"

"Honey, for most of my life I've fought fires," he explained. "Now I'm fighting assistants that try to hold me back while I continue with my experiments, I don't think I need to fight you, too." He walked over to his daughter and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm just glad you're not mad at me anymore."

Dana pulled away from her father and her blue eyes turned steely once more. "I'm still mad at you, Dad. I'm not going to forget what you did." With that, she turned on her heel and raced up the stairs to her bedroom where he slammed the door behind her.

Captain Mitchell thought to remind her not to slam the door, but decided otherwise, it wouldn't help their situation if he did. Instead, he called Ellie—who was surprised that he had done so—and explained everything that was going on and how Dana wanted to meet her the next day. He expected her to hang up on him, to say that she never wanted to see him again, to not bother her, but she had—after a bit of hesitation—agreed to meet them.

And it was all the Mitchells could think about for the rest of that night, holding a tense silence over the house until the next morning when, true to his word, Captain Mitchell took the morning off, sending his assistant, Angela Fairweather, to his meetings, then the two went to the local diner for breakfast. Once seated, Dana preoccupied herself with her straw, pushing it back and forth across the table as Captain Mitchell watched her.

"How are you classes going?" He asked her.

"Fine," Dana muttered.

"You're graduating this year, are you still on track to go to university to go into medial school?" At Dana's silent nod, Captain Mitchell continued. "It's ironic, really," he remarked. "Ellie is a nurse." He hid his smile as Dana looked up at him in surprise. "It's true. She works as a nurse in pediatrics, but sometimes takes up extra shifts at the hospital."

"I didn't know that," she murmured.

"You didn't ask."

Dana shrugged and went back to passing her straw back and forth between her hands before bringing her phone out of her pocket to look over the messages her friends were sending her. Captain Mitchell leaned back in his seat, stretching his legs out from underneath the table. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking around the diner. The small TV that sat on the counter broadcasted the world news and Captain Mitchell was slightly surprised to see there was no news of the power rangers. Then again, he didn't expect them to be used every day.

Even evil space villains needed some time off. What worried him the most was of the appearance of Diabolico in Angel Grove. He hadn't thought there was much truth in the claims he had first heard, but then more and more reports came in, some government sanctioned. There was no explanation as to how a woman who was still relatively young with no health problems have dropped dead like that? Once he got the information that Diabolico had been present, it caused him to have to work harder at his job. If he and the demons were sealed away, how had he have gotten out of their entombment and killed that woman?

And the most important question of them all was; why was Lacey Cranston targeted? What was it about her that had caused her to be a casualty in the war against evil beings from space? Those questions were thrown around the office many times throughout the day as his group of colleagues worked as hard as they could to continue to try and create the new powers that would be used if something ever happened in Mariner Bay.

Captain Mitchell pushed the thoughts to the back of his head as he heard the bell above the door of the diner ding and turned in his seat to see Ellie slide inside the diner. He waved a hand towards her and she nodded back, smoothing down the sides of her coat before walking over to the table, giving a small smile. In fact, she appeared to be walking into a war zone, her footsteps going even slower the closer she got to the table.

Standing up, Captain Mitchell offered her the seat that was next to. "This is my daughter, Dana," he introduced the two of them. "Dana, this is Ellie."

"Hi, Dana," Ellie said. She placed her purse on the ground next to her seat before holding her hand out towards the teenage girl. Dana hesitated then stuck out her hand and shook Ellie's. "It's nice to meet you. Though…I guess things are a bit weird, right now, yeah?"

"I guess," Dana agreed. She rested her chin in her hand, quickly glancing over the menu before raising her eyes to Ellie. "Dad told me you're a nurse."

"I am," Ellie agreed. She looked over her own menu, quickly deciding what she wanted, and set it aside. "I am a pediatric nurse and have been for a while now. Otherwise I take some shifts at the hospital for some extra money every now and then. Your father told me that you were interested in becoming a doctor as well. Your grades in science must be very good if you've already got some scholarship offers." She cleared her throat, shifting in her seat. "If you ever need a letter of recommendation, I could write you one. Or one of my colleagues. I'm sure they'd like to help you out."

Despite being angry at her father and the awkwardness of being at a table with the woman her father had gotten pregnant twice, the teenager's eyes lit up. "That'd be nice," she said, trying to downplay her excitement. "I…I didn't know Dad told you so much about me."

"I reckon he hasn't told _you_ a lot about _me_." Ellie's Australian accent rang true as she glanced over at Captain Mitchell with a pointed look. She then released a long, pent up sigh. "I can't imagine what I would do if I were in his shoes and he in mine. I have made my own mistakes, especially in the means of not allowing certain things to be said…I feel nothing but immense guilt for not telling Cadence and Abigail everything they should've known before." She placed her hand on her chest. "It wasn't until early last year that we finally explained everything to them and they were rightfully angry, yeah?"

"Yeah?" Dana repeated.

"It took me years to strike up the nerve to tell them everything that had gone on," Captain Mitchell continued. "Years. Years of me wondering if I had made the right decision, years of knowing that I willingly gave up on them and on you…and…have been dreading it and agonizing over it for just as long." He shook his head. "So I understand that you wanted to punish me as much as you could, when you found out because I betrayed you in a sense. But I'd hope that you'd understand that there are things that, as adults, we don't feel our kids are ready to hear."

"But you cheated on Mom, Dad," Dana cried in exasperation. Her voice echoed throughout the diner and she lowered her voice once glances came her way. "Did you not love her anymore? Is that it?" She then turned to Ellie with a narrowed gaze. "Did you know about my dad's status? Could you not resist the uniform? You knew they were married right and yet you still went after him and did your best to rip him away from his family, right?"

"Dana!" Captain Mitchell snapped, causing the girl to lean back in her seat, crossing her arms and turning away. He let out a sigh, an irritated sigh that had been kept inside for too long. He leaned forward and ran his hands over a face. "I understand you're angry, but please—"

"No, no that's okay." Ellie managed to brave a smile. "I reckon it's something I deserve. Though I have to tell you, Dana, that I wasn't aware that your mother was your mother, his wife, or that he was married until after I met her. I was stationed as her nurse when she had been bedridden the first time. She wasn't' doing well, Dana, we could all se e that she didn't have much time left and while she, miraculously, fought to live a lot longer than we anticipated, her cancer was terminal. She knew she wasn't going to be around much longer and she had said that she hadn't wanted your father to sit around and mope when she was gone."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I was there when she said it to him, yeah? I was doing my checkup of her and she said it. I don't know if she saw the initial attraction between me and your father, but she said she didn't want him to live the rest of his life pining after someone that will obviously not make it. She wouldn't hate him if he moved on before what happened happened."

Dana shook he head.

"I'm sorry, but that was her decision to make and she made it," Ellie continued. She sat back in her seat, brushing her hair out of her face. "She had always thought about her family before herself. She never thought about how scared she was or how things were going. She continued to look at the future, not at what the end was. She always talked about you. _Always._ She loved you very much. So please don't think that there's anyone that can take that away from you."

Dana nodded.

Captain Mitchell signaled the waitress to come over and take their order. And with that, the conversation had lulled once more, but at least things were clearer and had finally been explained. The three ate in relative silence for the most part and then Dana brought up the second thing she had wanted to know.

"Am I going to meet Avalon and Bailey?" She asked. "I want to be able to talk to them a little."

"Well…I have no problem with that, Dana," Ellie admitted. "But the thing is, at the moment, they're in the process of being adopted. And while they now know and understand everything that's happened, I reckon it'll take some time before they'd want to meet up with you."

"Not to say that it won't happen," Captain Mitchell continued. "I'm just not sure right now is the time to bring it up. But they do know who you are and how you're related to them. So it's not like you'd be a complete stranger if things ever worked out that way."

"They're being adopted?" Dana's eyebrows rose in confusion. "You gave them up for adoption?"

"Yes." Ellie and Captain Mitchell nodded. "We…we felt that the choices we had made in their lives…they wouldn't be able to get through and coming back here, being in our custody again wasn't going to help. They have a great life in Angel Grove with friends they really care about."

"The others in the picture?"

"Yes. We made a blue in the way we handled their growing up and the choices we made for them and the way they're thriving now…I wouldn't want to take that from them. I'd want them to make their own decisions about it." Ellie pushed her plate away from her and regarded Captain Mitchell with a serious look and he nodded back at her, giving a half smile. "We're still in contact with them; they come to visit every now and then. Thing are getting better and while we're still working things out, they're getting better."

Dana rested her cheek in her hand and nodded as she poked at the fruit salad and egg omelet that was piled onto her plate. She let out a long breath and sat up straight, looking back and forth between her father and Ellie. "I don't agree with what you've done," She admitted. "And…I'm still very…pissed about the whole thing." She held up her hand towards her father as he gave a start, eyes narrowing. Cursing was something he never allowed in his presence, but he knew she deserved to have the chance to vent her feelings. "I can see how you think that you were helping all of us when you made your decisions so I guess I can't fault you for that."

Captain Mitchell nodded and reached out, placing his hand on top of his daughter's. "I know it's going to take a while for you to fully understand this, but we truly do think that we did what was best for everyone. Even if there were a lot of mistakes made."

"I understand."

The three finished eating and paid the bill before leaving the diner. Ellie bid the two of them goodbye, awkwardly walking with them out of the diner. "I have to get going or else I'll miss my shift." She gave a small smile towards Captain Mitchell before turning to Dana. "I'd still be glad to write a letter of recommendation if you'd like. Just let me know."

"Thank you."

"Bye."

Ellie waved once more and turned on her heel and went to her car. Captain Mitchell waved until she was out of the parking lot before walking with Dana back to their car. He turned to her as the two started back towards their car. "Do you understand now?"

"Yeah…" Dana sighed. She lifted her head. "I guess….I don't know how hard it was…to see her like that." She looked up at her father. "Mom, I mean." She turned away, brushing a tear from her cheek. "It must've been really bad if she was starting to tell you to move on. I…I don't want to think of her that way. I want to think of her as my Mom."

"I understand that sweetie, but you also have to know that she's not gone," Captain Mitchell explained to her. "Not entirely. I see a lot of your mother in you, Dana. Especially with the way you're not afraid to speak up about things that matter to you."

Dana smiled and hid her face with her hair. Captain Mitchell leaned over and kissed the side of her head, causing Dana to react in surprise. He didn't usually show this much emotion about anything. He always had to have a stern, disciplinary image whenever he was at work and that seeped over into their home life every now and then. It was good to see there were still moments within him that she could see her father, rather than the man she had to answer to.

"In that case," Dana started. "I really don't feel like going to school today, even if it's a little bit late. Besides, I have some more questions I want to ask you."

Captain Mitchell nodded. "I understand. You know I'm just trying to do the right thing here."

"I know, Dad. I know."

* * *

Avalon crossed her legs at the knee, tugging at her shoelaces as she looked around the meeting room. At all of the tables around her there were inmates and family members conversing quietly. As Avalon twisted in her seat to look around the room, she could see mother with their sons, tears falling down their cheeks, fathers with their daughters, inmates and significant others, everyone doing his best to keep their composure as they conversed in a place where people were more than likely not to get taken out of within the next few years.

The outside of the large room was covered by guards that stared in at the inmates as if their lives depended on it. On one side of the room was a small, rickety shelf filled with board games, on the other side of the room was a vending machine that hardly worked, having to be kicked a few times on the side before something came out. She learned that the hard way as she had listened to a couple of kids repeatedly kick the side of the vending machine for fun until they found that free candy would pop out. Then they had continued until one of the guards came up behind them and threatened them with a trip to jail if they didn't stop defacing federal property and they hurried back over to their mother, who was busy having a whispered conversation with whom the orange ranger thought was her husband.

If the way she was rubbing his thigh gave any indication.

"I'd do that for you if I wasn't spatially challenged at the moment." Turning around Avalon watched as Chase sat down in the seat across from her, hands shackled together as well as his feet. "Then again, I'd also settle for a hug."

"And probably get smacked all the same, yeah?" Avalon remarked. She then got a good look at him, taking in a figure that she had thought would turn gaunt. However considering his bicep muscles bulged out more than she remembered and the dark look to his eyes hadn't faded, there was a sense of calm around him. Her eyes widened when she turned her gaze to where his shaggy hair used to sit, showing off the large scar in his eyebrow. "You shaved your head?"

"No." Chase shook his head before slouching down in his seat. "I had it _forcibly_ shaved. Should've known it wouldn't take much for the High Flyers to get wind that I was coming in here." The chains around his hands clinked together as he brought his hands up and rubbed them over his short hair. "I'm surprised it didn't happen the moment I got here."

"Did you get beat up, too?"

Chase's eyebrow twitched upwards as a smirk graced his handsome features. "They wouldn't be dumb enough to try." He shifted in his seat, stretching out his legs underneath the table. "So what brings you to this hell hole for a visit? Last I checked, I haven't gotten any response to the letters I've been sending you. Then again, you have a great life now, why would you want to screw that up?"

"Cut the sweet talk, Chase. You and I both know it's not your strong suit." Avalon moved her hair back out of her face and crossed her legs the other way before regarding him with narrowed eyes. "I thought we had a deal."

Chase's face held a blank expression that lasted a few seconds before he took a breath. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that. I'm sure that we've made a lot of different deals that I may or may not have kept up my end on."

"We made the deal that as soon as I left the Vipers I was out. Like, completely out, yeah? Not only that but I held up my end of it and helped you with whatever you needed until your girlfriend went completely psycho and shot me."

"She was already crazy, Pinky, you knew that," Chase reminded her. "But she was a good lay so I put up with it." Bringing up his hands he tried to scratch the side of his neck, then cursed as he bashed the chains against his chest. "Dammit these things are annoying. Anyway, to answer your question, you _are_ out of the Vipers. I'm pretty sure the fact that I'm in here right now proves that."

She gave him the stink-eye. "So why is it, Mr. Leader of the Whack, did Skye and Summer try to run me down in an alleyway?" Chase continued to blink at her and she leaned towards him. "I know you, Chase. You always try to think of a way to make sure that you're the one that comes out on top in your agreements. And in this situation you have yourself protected in jail with your connections, while the rest of us are stuck in your wake of destruction."

"Don't you think you're being a bit overdramatic?"

"No, Chase, I don't think I'm being overdramatic. I've finally had everything in my life going back to normal. As normal as I can have it, anyway. And things were going great for me, I was starting to think that I could actually be happy, and I am for the most part. But then those two boofheads came and tried to stick me. So I can only assume that they've been gone for so long and only just _suddenly_ came back, that there's something you've done."

Chase licked his lips then sat up straight before leaning towards her. He glanced at once of the guards that were watching the room and caught his eye, staring him down before turning back to the orange ranger and chewed his lower lip. "Everything that I've ever told you has been the truth. I took you in because you needed a family and I saw that you were hurting. I kept you around because I saw that whatever you put your mind to, you'll do it with everything within you. I took the fall for Summer because I saw how badly you wanted to make a change and if I kept you in it, something terrible would've come out from it. Everything that I've ever said to you I have not lied about.

"However, I had no idea that Summer and Skye were even back in Angel Grove if they were because you're not the only one that's trying to better yourself. Though I guess I have plenty of time to work on that…my trial's coming up soon so we'll see what they have to say about how long I'm going to be in here." He let out a short sigh. "Maximum's not so bad," he added. "At least I know where I'm going to sleep."

"Chase…" Avalon trailed off, leaning back in her seat. She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, noticing there were strange stains splattered around. "Why should I believe anything you're saying? In case you've forgotten, you promised to blow my brains out on more than one occasion."

Chase moved his lower jaw to the side before chuckling to himself. "Did I mention that I got a psych exam done and that they've diagnosed me with bipolar disorder?" He laughed even harder as Avalon lowered her chin and gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah, if I had actually listened to Skye or Lance about there actually being something wrong with me that would've saved me a lot of trouble and the rest of you guys a lot of trauma."

"What about Summer?" Avalon gave a wry smile.

"Like I said, Summer's just nuts."

"I don't think the fact that you knocked her up and then her losing the baby helped matters much," Avalon commented. "But, yeah…she always has been the ruthless one. I feel kind of bad for her, really. It doesn't seem like she wants to get better but is just sucked so deep into this thing. I mean, her mother is gone, her father is in and out of jail."

Now Chase laughed. "Geez and before you were at each other's throats."

"I said I feel sorry for her, not that I actually like her." Avalon regarded him curiously. "So you really didn't have a clue that Summer and Skye were back here in Angel Grove, yeah? You're not trying to give me the run around?"

"No, I'm honestly not. And if you don't believe me, that's fine."

Avalon regarded Chase for a long moment and he looked back at her. She became frustrated knowing that despite the things they had gone through together, she wasn't ever going to be one hundred percent sure he was ever telling the truth. And that thought alone is what scared her more than anything else.

Standing up, the orange ranger signaled to the guard she was ready to go and left the main floor. After being checked by the guard so that she didn't bring anything out of the visitation area, she took her backpack back from the check-in area and started to leave. She looked back into the visitation area and watched as Chase was stood up from the table and led out of the room. She turned her head away and left to go back to the front desk, certain she'd never see him again.

* * *

"Jason, honey, we have something we need to talk to you about."

Jason Lee Scott turned away from his computer to face his mother, who stood in the doorway of his room. Behind her was his father, who appeared just as serious as he did. The former red ranger nodded and motioned for them to enter his room. Well, it wasn't exactly his room, but one of the guest rooms in his Aunt and Uncle's house. He had been there with his mother and father ever since they had gotten the news of him having had a drug overdose.

It had occurred during a time of Jason's life that was so hectic. He had nothing but ranger duties and his school work to go through and after having been jumped by the High Flyers, the rival gang to the Vipers he found himself wanting to be stronger, to be sure nothing would happen to himself or his friends again, so he started to take steroids before knowing of the history of addiction and substance abuse in his family. After hearing what happened to his uncle he quickly stopped taking steroids and made the tough decision to go with his family to stay with him and his Aunt until he was sure he was back on is feet.

Now as Jason watched his parents, Caine and Marissa, walk into his room, he found his stomach turning itself into knots. Much like the knots he had felt when he realized that the next school year was going to start soon for him. Back in Angel Grove, his friends had already started taking classes, as from what Billy had told him over the phone. He couldn't believe they were going into their senior year without him, but at the same time he knew they were doing a good job without his leadership. The power rangers were on the news nearly as much as when he had been on the team and seeing all of their accomplishments, after what had gone on with Ivan Ooze, he was nothing short of proud of them.

"What's going on?" He asked them. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, sweetie," Marissa replied with a tired smile. "There's just been a lot that we've been thinking about recently, some new event that we'd like to speak with you about."

"Like what?"

"Well, Jason, your Uncle Dennis has been out of the hospital for a while now," Caine explained. "And his treatment is going well. Your Aunt Shelly says it doesn't look like there's much that we can do for him anymore."

"He…he's not dying is he?" Jason asked quietly.

"No. No, nothing like that." Caine laughed lightly and reached out, ruffling his son's hair. "I mean that he's out of rehab, he has a great support group that he goes to every week, Aunt Shelly has cut back her work hours to make sure that things are okay and…" he exchanged a glance with Marissa. "There's really not much for us to do out here anymore."

"So, honey," Marissa started. "We know that you're registered to start your senior year at school and it starts in a couple of weeks," she explained. "We were wondering what you thought about that? Going to school out here, staying with your Uncle a little bit longer or going back to Angel Grove?"

The former red ranger's mouth dropped open for a second. "Angel Grove?" He repeated. "I…we…we're going back?"

He slowly turned back to his computer and stared at the schedule of classes he had sitting in front of them. He was actually pretty excited about them, but being able to go back to Angel Grove…he thought about it a lot when he first arrived at his uncle's house. That only left one question.

What would he be going back to?


	18. Mind, Body, Spirit

**Chapter 18**

_Mind, Body, Spirit_

* * *

Jason paced back and forth across his room, his cell phone to his ear. He waited as the phone continued to ring and ring, before letting out a sigh of annoyance. He pulled the phone away from his ear, making sure he was calling Zack's number, before putting it back. It continued to ring and ring and finally, when he was about to give up, the line was finally picked up.

"Zack?" Jason asked.

"No, honey, its Mrs. Taylor," his mother said patiently. "Zack's not here right now. I guess he left his phone behind."

"Oh." Jason ran a hand through his hair. That's how it had been the past week or so as he had tried to get in contact with the former black ranger and his best friend. He was going to tell him about his potential move back to Angel Grove, maybe get some advice on it, but every time he called he either had to leave a message or his mother would pick up and explain he wasn't there. It was getting to the point where he wasn't sure if Zack was avoiding him or if he really did have a lot going on. "Well, do you think you could tell him to cal me back? I mean, if he gets the chance to call back? I know he's been busy lately."

"I'll try," Mrs. Taylor said with a slight sigh. "He's always out so late now. I usually don't even notice if here's here or not, he's usually in his room." She then paused. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's anything wrong with him do you? I know he hasn't been calling you back lately, but maybe he's sent an email or a letter."

Jason frowned, suddenly concerned for his best friend. His mother didn't even know where he was half the time and Zack was usually really good at making sure that he communicated with people as much as possible. He was the only one that Jason knew that would call to tell someone when he was leaving, and when he arrived before walking right through the door. This was the guy that could talk to anybody with no fear and managed to win over the ice queen, Angela, before having left Angel Grove. Something had to be wrong.

The last thing he wanted to do was worry Mrs. Taylor for no reason, especially considering there were so many things they had to keep quiet when it came to their secret life of being power rangers. There were still so many things he couldn't tell his _own_ parents about why he had to constantly leave placed at such odd times, but this felt different.

"Well, I haven't had time to check my email in a while," Jason said slowly. That was a lie; he had checked his email constantly since he left Angel Grove, to make sure he stayed in contact with his friends. "But I'll definitely send him one soon. I've been so busy out here, you know? But I'll definitely get into contact with him soon and I'll let you know, Mrs. Taylor. I'm sure he's just hanging out with some friends. He's moved to a new place, doesn't really know anyone there, I'm sure it's not a problem."

"I hope you're right," Mrs. Taylor agreed. "Bye Jason, I'll talk to you soon."

"Goodbye." Jason hung up the phone and pulled it away from his ear and punched in Trini's number. He continued to pace back and forth one more, now wondering what it was that was keeping Zack was getting in contact with them, then shifted his attention to the phone when he heard the former yellow ranger's voice come on the phone. "Trini?"

"Jason, hey!" Jason couldn't help but smile. Trini sounded better than he had ever heard her. "How are things I'm so sorry I haven't called in a while, things have been so great over here." He could hear rustling and figured she was shifting on a bed. "I've learned so much about my heritage over here. It's all so amazing. I wish you guys could see it."

"It sounds like fun," Jason agreed. "I'm glad you're having such a good time. It must be very different from Angel Grove."

"Everything is different from Angel Grove, that's true," Trini agreed. Jason could practically see her smile, her voice was so warm. "But I miss home and everything that came with it." She paused briefly. "I eve miss being a ranger. My communicator is so quiet now, it's so weird. Hey, not long ago…did you ever…hear your zord, like, crying?"

"Kind of like it was in pain?" Jason asked. He heard Trini let out a started gasp and deduced she had heard the same thing. "Yeah, I heard it. It was like it was crying out for me or something. I heard it. I heard the tyrannosaurus zord crying for me. It sounded like it was scared."

"I heard the same thing for the Sabertooth Tiger," Trini agreed. "I knew we had a sort of connection with our zords, through our powers, but I didn't think it would be that strong. I mean, our communicators don't even go off anymore, but I know they're always fighting monsters as much as they had before. I guess because our powers were copied and we didn't actually lose them, we were still able to connect with them."

"Yeah…" Jason took a deep breath. "Speaking of Angel Grove…I have something I need to tell you. Or, I need your advice really, and you've always been able to give me good advice." He sat down on the end of his bed. "So maybe you could help me out."

"Of course, Jason. What's going on?"

"Well, you know how we moved out to be closer to my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Shelly to look after him while he went through his treatment? Well, he's doing a lot better now and my Mom and Dad were just telling me that we don't have to necessarily stay here anymore, to be supportive to him. But the thing is because we don't necessarily need to be here anymore, they were saying that I could either stay here and go to school for a while, or go back to Angel Grove and do my senior year there."

"Jase, that's so awesome! You'll be able to see our friends again." Trini then noticed the tone to his voice. "But…I can't help but notice that you don't sound too happy."

"I guess I'm not," Jason admitted. "I'd love to be able to see our friends again, honestly. That's the thing that's really making me want to go back. But it's everything else that's that problem. So many things have changed. Not only are we not rangers anymore, but they've done so much while we were gone. It'd be like going away to summer camp and seeing what's changed when you get back."

"Are you afraid that you're not going to be able to get back into the group? That's sill, Jason. They're your friends. They're not going to exclude you from anything."

"Well, I guess what I mean is that I don't really know Rocky, Adam, or Aisha very well and I'm afraid it'll be awkward. Especially when they have to go off and do their ranger duties and I can't help them at all. I guess I'm just used to being the leader and going straight into battle. I'm afraid things've changed too much."

"Everything changes, Jason. It wouldn't be life if it didn't happen. We grow older; we change our interests, things around us. We get jobs and move away. If everything stayed the same, life would be too boring. Would you want to stay the same as you are now when you're forty years old?"

"If I can _look_ the same—"

"Jason! Don't tell me you're afraid of growing grey hair."

"Not grey hair, going bald. It runs in the family and by the time I can't hide it with a hat I'm hoping I will be old enough so that I can put myself into seclusion." He smiled as Trini laughed.

"Don't be silly, Jason. Things are going to be okay, I know it will. Whether you decide to go back to Angel Grove or not, I'll support your decision. You know I'm always here for you."

"I know." Jason cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, have you gotten in contact with Zack lately? Every time I try to call him, he doesn't pick up and even his mother is starting to get worried. She said that he's always gone or lock himself in his room. She can't tell what's going on with him."

"No. I've called him a few times too, even emailed him and I haven't gotten anything in response. I don't think anything's wrong, though, I haven't sensed it. I'm sure Zack's just adjusting to everything that's going on out there. He's the one that's moved the furthest away and he doesn't have any family where they are." She paused. "Not that I even _know_ where they are. I can't even send a letter."

"I know, that's the strange part," Jason agreed. "But we know Zack; he's always talking to someone. He'll get into contact with us soon." He looked at his watch. "Hey, I have to get going, I need to get workout in before dinner. I'll talk to you later, Trini. I'm glad you're enjoying your time in Vietnam."

"Me too, Jason. Talk to you later."

Jason hung up the phone and flopped back onto his bed. He looked around at the pictures of him and his friends that he had put up on the walls. Pictures of them in the park, pictures of them hanging out at school, pictures of them doing homework together in the Command Center. They had always been such great friends before they received their powers and the duty to protect Angel Grove, and that friendship had blossomed since they had continued to fight alongside each other, bringing in others as time went on.

So why was that the only thing he could focus on?

Why was he so worried about _not_ being a ranger more than he was afraid of being able to fit back in with his friends?

"That sense of responsibility must've gotten to me more than I thought," Jason remarked under his breath. He laughed lightly, remembering when he and the rangers had first gotten their powers and how he had been the first one to agree to take them on. He didn't know what it was that made him do it, he was nothing but a normal teenager that liked to hang out with friends and procrastinate on homework a little bit and having superpowers was something he had never thought of.

But it just seemed so right.

Maybe going back to Angel Grove was the right thing, too.

* * *

"Zordon, do you want me to call the rangers to the Command Center now?" Alpha asked as he turned away from the viewing globe. So far there had been no attacks anywhere in the city. No disturbances that would bring the rangers into any fights. "I think it would be the best time to explain the powers of the ninjetti to them. The sooner we get it done, the better it will be as their powers progress."

"I believe you're right, Alpha. Please contact them and tell them to teleport here as soon as possible," Zordon declared.

Alpha nodded and turned back to the control panel and started to press a few buttons on it. He then waited for the rangers to arrive at the Command Center and waved as he walked over to them. "Greetings my friends, I hope you're having a great day."

"We are, Alpha," Bailey agreed as she walked over and gave her friend a hug. "But we're kind of confused too. There haven't been any monster attacks."

"Yeah, why'd you call for us if there isn't any trouble?" Rocky added. He scratched the back of his neck. "I was just in the middle of a really good burger, too. Ernie's trying out a new recipe for the Youth Center and I promised I would help him test it out."

"Of course, Rocky," Kimberly teased him. "Anything having to do with food will need the Jaws of Life to pull you away." She laughed as the red ranger rolled his eyes and his friends around him all smiled. "I'm kidding Rocky; I think it's cool that you can help out Ernie that way."

"I know." He placed his hands on his stomach as it growled loudly. "And I was so close to tasting it."

"We'll worry about your eating habits later, Rock." Aisha tilted her head towards Zordon. "Let the man talk."

Zordon chuckled at the rangers' antics before addressing them formally. "Rangers, ever since you've returned from Phaedos, you have continually managed to fend off every attack that Rita and Zedd have sent your way. However, there are still some things you need to know about your powers that will have great consequences if they fall into the wrong hands."

"Fall into the wrong hands?" Avalon repeated, scrunching up her nose. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Your power is linked directly to your power coins," Alpha explained. "That's how it worked with your past powers as well. Remember when you gave up your power coins to Goldar so that you could get your parents back from Rita safe and sound?"

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. "When we gave over the power coins the power went with it. Even then I was confused, Zordon. Why would the powers be handed over that easily when we were chosen by the Great Power to be the ones that take them?"

"The choice of the Great Power to bestow them upon you is something that can never be taken for granted," Zordon agreed. "But that doesn't mean there are ramifications that we can't get by when it comes to the powers. The creation of the Great Power I something that neither of us were around for and there are still so many things about it that we don't understand. However Alpha and I, years ago, had found a map that led us to the desert of despair on Phaedos that held the original power coins."

"Like that map that was leading us through the desert of despair to find Dulcea?" Tommy asked.

"That's correct, Tommy. Phaedos is the planet that holds a lot of power, starting with the first power you guys have obtained, then going on to the ninjetti power you have now. Somehow, Rita had obtained the Dragon Power Coin while we had found the other five. If that had not happened, Tommy would not have been an evil green ranger."

"You mean he would've been on our side the whole time?" Kimberly asked. She looked over at her boyfriend and laid her hand on his forearm comfortingly. "He wouldn't have had to go through all of that pain under Rita's orders?"

"We may never know what would have happened if Rita hadn't gotten his power coin, Kimberly," Alpha reminded her. "But you can't forget that without that fighting experience, you wouldn't have become strong enough to defeat him and we wouldn't have the power of the white ranger on our side. We only created those powers after the powers of the green ranger had been destroyed."

"Then when it came to the power of the thunderzords, they were powered by the Power Coins as well," Zordon continued, his voice booming over the rangers. "The ones that took in more power to maintain the use of the thunderzords. However, when Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina overloaded your zords with insurmountable power, the power coins couldn't take it and were destroyed. That is why we sent you back to Phaedos, to look for the Great Power. Not only would it be something that would be great for the revitalization of your power, but it was something that would continue to bring hope for the rest of the universe. If that's where the Power Coins of origin had been created, then there was a great chance that the ninjetti power was to be there as well.

"However, you ninjetti Power Coins are different and are more dangerous than the dinosaur Power Coins of before."

"More dangerous?" Adam repeated.

"Dangerous for us or dangerous for others?" Bailey asked. The purple ranger chewed her lower lip with worry. "What if these fall into the wrong hands just as easily as they had when Rita and Zedd took their parents? Would we be able to survive then?"

"Please, Bailey," Alpha reassured her. "It's serious, but for an entirely different reason. These powers are more dangerous for _you_ rangers, not for those that get their hands on them."

"But Bailey's original powers, the power of the Ankylosaurus were dangerous in anyone's hands," Avalon pointed out.

"That's right," Kimberly agreed. "You told us that whoever got the power of the Ankylosaurus, they would get the power. Good or evil. Is that the same with these coins?"

Zordon shook his head. "Unlike the Dino Coins that you had before, the Ninja Power Coins draw from the life-force from each of you rangers. The powers are directly connected to the essence of your being. If you're away from your coins for too long, it will harm your body, making you weaker and weaker until your body can't sustain it anymore."

Tommy swallowed thickly. "So…we can _die_ if we're separated from our Power Coins for too long?" He looked around at his friends as they all gave different sounds and expressions of shock. Kimberly and Adam exchanged a glance and Kimberly looked down at her hands, gently playing with her fingers. Avalon let out a heavy sigh and brushed her hair back away from her face, chewing her lower lip. Bailey frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together, freckled nose wrinkling. Rocky and Aisha exchanged worried glances.

It was the first time that death had really occurred to any of the rangers. At least to Tommy anyway. He thought as soon as they had their powers, there wasn't anything that would cause them to be destroyed or else. Their bodies in general were most adept to pain and strength, giving them more athletic forms than others. Even he noticed that he could lift more after gaining his powers the first time. But he still had to work hard to progress. He just never thought of it. Sure, health teachers and parents were always warning them they weren't as invincible as they thought, but he thought that was just a warning. He hadn't ever thought about it particularly.

Now knowing that their powers were what could get to them even quicker than making a mistake while having a good time…it was a lot sobering than he thought it would be.

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. He licked his lips as he thought of an easier way to explain. "Much like the Dino Power Coins being attached to the morphing grid, and how our Dino Coins were destroyed, the link was broken. The Dino Coins cannot work without the link to the morphin grid and it's probable that it'll cause a lot of damage if we tried to morph with them once more. Much like the Ninja Coins where they're linked directly to our life force, our very essence of being. Once that connection is broken, it'll be difficult to put back, thus causing it to be something more dangerous to ourselves rather than for those that get the coins."

"Precisely, Billy," Alpha agreed. He trotted a few steps forward. "You must be very careful to have your morphers and Ninja Coins on you at all times."

"However, that does not mean that there aren't ways that you could potentially keep yourself alive as you work to retrieve the coins, if that time ever comes. It is as Dulcea has told you that within each person are an animal spirit waiting to be released. When times become dire, connect yourselves with the animals spirits and they will be your guides."

"Dulcea explained how the power of the ninjetti works," Tommy said. "How the Great Power that drives it would destroy us if we hadn't mastered the power of the ninjetti."

"She is correct," Zordon agreed. "Years ago the Nathadians created and brought the Great Power to Phaedos for safe keeping and placed it inside the monolith that you opened to retrieve the powers. That power can only be tapped into if the connected between the ninjetti and the Great Power is strong enough to contain it. It has to become accustomed to the perfect union of mind, body, and spirit. Talents and efforts that I see in each and every one of you. It was the Order of the Meledan that protected it along with the Nathadians before the Nathadians perished and Dulcea became the remaining survivor."

"What was the Order of the Meledan, Zordon?" Rocky asked. "Dulcea explained it to us; it was a peace keeping group that was kind of like us, you led them."

If Alpha could smile, he would've beamed with pride. "He was the finest commander anyone has ever seen," he explained. "It was the faction that put Ivan in the chamber. There were aliens and morphological beings that came from all over the galaxy to try and keep the peace despite all of the wars and battles from evil being that were starting to accumulate faster than they could be defeated. It was the same faction, led by Zordon after putting away Ivan that started the fight against Rita Repulsa, almost 10,000. The fight between them stretched out about 2,000 years and stretched across many galaxies and planets, many falling into the crossfire. We have lost many of the Order of the Meledan over the years."

"Many of my warriors, my friends, have perished over the years as well," Zordon added. "It was during this time that Rita agreed to work with Lord Zedd to try and defeat me one and for all."

"So they teamed up even before they got married?" Avalon asked, her eyebrows flying upwards. "Whoa, talk about a long lasting relationship, yeah?"

"This is what has started her attack on Earth, and set their current occupation of the moon and their revenge against you in the present day in motion," Zordon continued. "It was I that sealed her in the space dumpster after years of death and destruction. Before she was sealed away, she sealed me as well, in this power tube out of time and space. Though this tube I have connections to other planets and had put myself in connection with King Lexian and Alpha, who then became to be one of my dearest friends, as of yours."

"Wow," Adam remarked. "I guess we really _were_ destined to get these powers then."

"And to protect the Earth," Aisha agreed. "And all the other galaxies."

"You know we'll do everything we can to make sure we can do this, Zordon," Bailey reminded him. "We'll make sure we can get completely control of these ninjetti powers and destroy Rita and Zedd once and for all."

"She's right," Tommy agreed. He turned back to his friends. "Knowing all of this, understanding where our powers come from and what they mean…knowing _we_ were chosen for a reason. We can't back down now. We have to continue working as hard as we can to ensure that there's peace. And once there's peace here on Earth there can be peace all over the Galaxy. There' going to be some rough times ahead, battles we don't think we'll ever be able to win. But we have to be sure that we keep going no matter what and don't give up on ourselves."

"Count me in, bro," Bailey agreed. "Nothing's going to stop me now."

"With all of us working together, there' nothing we can't do," Avalon added.

"Whoo! Try and stop us, Tommy. We're behind you one hundred percent," Kimberly agreed.

 _Is that a good idea?_ The destruction of the thundermegazords replayed in his head as Billy, Rocky, Aisha, and Adam all gave their own verbal agreements. With a smile, Tommy reached out his hand and waited for the others to place their hands atop it as well. Once every hand was placed atop of his he looked each of his friends in the eye as they gave a nod of confirmation.

"Power Rangers!"


	19. Illusions

**Chapter 19**

_Illusions_

* * *

"Hey girl." Aisha looked up from her book as Kimberly and Avalon walked into the yellow ranger's bedroom. She set her book aside and hugged it to her chest, pulling her legs back so that there was space for the pink and orange rangers to climb up on the end of her bed.

"Hey!" The yellow ranger smiled at the girls. "What's up?"

"We wanted to hear how your first day at the vet went," Kimberly replied. She scooted back until her back was resting against the wall and pulled her legs up into a sitting position. "Was it as fun as you thought it was going to be? Were the puppies cute?"

"Better question, do you get to bring any of them home?" Avalon asked. She brushed her long, thick hair back and pulled it into a ponytail before stretching out onto her stomach.

Aisha laughed a little, rolling her eyes at her friends' excitement. Not that she wasn't excited herself, being able to work at the veterinarian's office was nothing short of a dream. But it was a lot more work than she thought it would be ad so far she had gotten so attached to the animals that were there so that she couldn't help but become sad when some of them were adopted while others were continuously passed over.

"Let me just tell you guys, the animals are all so cute," she gushed. "There's a puppy named Buster that is always so happy to play with anyone that comes by. He's always running around the worker's legs and plays so much, it's so cute. Then there's a tabby kitten named Boots that's kind of afraid of people and only comes out of its cage when there's a doctor around. She's not very comfortable around a lot of people, but we're working to get her acquainted with others so that she can be adopted."

"What happens if she doesn't?" Avalon asked, playing with the thread from Aisha's comforter. "Can you adopt her or does she have to go to a doctor?"

Aisha chewed her lower lip as she shook her head. "That's the hard part of the job," she explained. "There're so many dogs and cats that come in where the owners couldn't take care of them anymore, or they were too aggressive for the owners to handle, or they're strays. If no one wants them anymore, and if they don't get adopted, then we don't have a choice but to put them down." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I wish I could save all of them, but I'm not sure that my Mom and Dad would take any of them in."

"Well, why don't you try asking around to see if anyone can adopt?" Kimberly asked. She placed her hand on her chest. "I can't do it. My Mom doesn't want anything to tear up the furniture. Trust me; I've tried for ages to get something. Even a little bunny. But she says 'no'."

"I don't think we could take anyone in either," Avalon added. "Don't mention it to Bailey though, she'll have a fit if she thinks she can get a pet and then get told that she can't. She's wanted a pet for so long it's not even funny."

"It might help though," Aisha pointed out. "Taking care of a pet has amazing healing possibilities, especially in the means of tragedies." She held up her hands. "Not that I'm trying to push it on you, but there's so many that need help and I can't imagine what would happen to them if we couldn't."

"So why not ask Adam or Rocky? Can't they take any in?" Kimberly pointed out. She and Avalon then exchanged a glance then looked over at the yellow ranger, who lowered her head and started to twist the ends of her braids. "Or are you too afraid to ask Rocky, you know…cause you like him so much?" She leaned out of the way as Aisha whipped around and picked up her pillow, ready to whack the pink ranger with it. But the pink ranger reached out her hands and deflected the blows from hitting her in the face. "C'mon, Aisha, you know you like him."

"That's not the point!" Aisha snapped back despite her laughter. She picked up her pillow and started to whack the pink ranger over the head mercilessly. "We're talking about getting new homes for these animals. Adam, I think would be able to take some of them in. I'm not sure about Rocky, though. I mean, they have so much going on right now and I wouldn't want there to be anything else that worries him."

Kimberly and Aisha exchanged confused glances before the orange ranger finally asked the question out loud, "what's going on with him? I haven't noticed anything different in his behavior, mate."

The yellow ranger chewed her lower lip for a few moments. Should she tell them what was going on? It wasn't like Rocky had asked her to keep it a secret. But on the other hand, he would be upset if anything she had told him in confidence he started to spread to everyone. But, they were all friends and this was something that would help him, if he got more opinions on what to do. _He's been dealing with this for o long, he needs to know that someone is there for him, to support him with whatever he decides to do._

"He's….you know how he has so much responsibility at home?" Aisha finally remarked, causing the other two girls to laugh. "Well, his father left their family when he was really young. So he had to quickly help out his mother so that they could all stay afloat. He does his best to make sure that his brothers and sisters have everything they need. But he never wanted to take over the position of the 'man of the house' because he felt that it would be like he would grow up to be his father."

"That doesn't make sense." Kimberly frowned. "Rocky's not like his father at all. He would never purposefully leave anyone."

"I know, and I keep telling him that. But he always feels so guilty after having promised something to them and then having to leave on his ranger duties. They're all so close…he hates not being able to tell them the truth, but if he does he knows he might lose his powers and saving Angel Grove, because they're part of Angel Grove is so important to him. But…his father has come back recently, asking to be part of their live again. Rocky kicked him out and he and his mother got into a fight."

"That's awful."

"I know." Aisha tilted her head to the side, gently shaking her head. "I know. But I think there's a chance that, maybe, he wants his father back. I mean, you can't have gone this long and have not thought about it from time to time. I'm worried about him. He always gets so quiet and angry whenever he's brought up so Adam and I usually try to stay away from the subject. But when he was talking about him a few days ago…I don't know, I think that there was a part of him that was really kind of excited that he was back there and he was angry about it. That he thought there was a part of him that was a little kid again, just waiting for his Dad to come home."

"Well, do you know why he left?" Avalon tilted her head to the side and toyed with the end of her ponytail. "I'm not saying that there's a good reason for any man to leave his family, but was he abusive or anything?"

"No. I think it was that he had so many kids and had no idea how to care for them when he had a job that paid so little, making him stress out a lot. I guess he just couldn't take it."

"Still, that's a really nasty reason for leaving. So Rocko had to step up and take the spot? I can understand that. I can understand how he's so worried about him being back, especially if he's not sure how he feels in the first place. He needs the time to figure it out and his mother wanting to jump ahead and having him back probably isn't going to make things easy for him."

"I know." Aisha slowly smiled. "That's why I invited him to Angela's party. I mean, I invited Adam, too. Both of them could use some time to get their minds off of things." She let out a short sigh, unable to hide the smile from her face as she brought her knees up to her chest. "I'm sure it'll be lots of fun." She then paused, her facial expression changing to one that of slight hesitation. "I think he knows the way I meant to ask him."

"Maybe not," Kimberly pointed out. "Sometimes guys have to be told directly to their face to know that you like them and even then they don't usually get that message."

"You're telling me," Avalon agreed. "After Billy and I kissed he still didn't believe that I was into him until I, literally, took him by the face and point blank told him that I liked him." She rubbed her neck. "I think he still questions it sometimes."

"No, he's just shy," Kimberly defended the blue ranger. "Yeah, he's had girlfriends before, including Trini, but he's never really had a chance to really get into that sort of thing."

"Sure." Avalon shrugged before starting to run her finger over the vipers tattoo on her wrist. "Though I wonder how long it would take for him to understand when I say that I went to see Chase in jail." She then turned to the pink and yellow rangers as their mouths dropped open and she shrugged again. "It's no big—"

"Don't you dare try to downplay it, Cadence Mitchell!" Kimberly declared, whacking the orange ranger on the shoulder.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?"

"It's not something that's a 'no big deal' situation." Kimberly leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Does Billy even know that you used to date him?"

"Yeah, I told him already." Avalon relayed the conversation that she had with the blue ranger when they had gone to the observatory for their date. "I didn't think that it was right to keep that from him. And I don't think its right to keep this from him either. But I need to tell Tommy and the other guys, too."

"Why?" Aisha slowly shook her head.

"Because…" the orange ranger trailed off for a minute as she thought, trying to figure out how to bring it up. "Because I needed closure. Not only did I finally get some answers from Chase that I've wanted to hear since this all started, but because, and I'm not sure about this, I think Summer and Skye are back. They attacked me once and I went to the police station to talk to Lt. Stone and he said there hasn't been any record of them coming back to town. I want you guys to be prepared just in case."

Kimberly brought her hands up to her face and let out a groaning sigh. "Av…"

"I don't like it when you call me Cadence, but I'd hope that you never say my name like that again, either."

"Don't be so stubborn, I'm just saying that you should've told us about it before," Kimberly said gently. "I mean, you kept all of this a secret before, and you saw what happened last time." She reached out and gently poked the orange ranger on her wounded shoulder. "But I guess it's good that you told us now. So we can be prepared."

"How dangerous are these guys?" Aisha asked.

"Take everything that Rita and Zedd have thrown our way and multiply it by, like, twenty and that's them. Especially because I'm sure they're not exactly right in the head." Avalon shook her head. "Like I said, I need to be honest about this sort of thing, yeah? I think he'd be really mad if I didn't say anything."

"I don't think Billy would be that mad," Aisha quickly defended him.

"Not Billy, Tommy," Avalon corrected her. "I thought he was a protective friend, but considering I'm going to be his sister soon, I think he's starting to get into that 'big brother' mode a lot sooner than I anticipated." She climbed off the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I believe I'm about to walk into a stern lecture. I'll see you guys later."

Kimberly and Aisha waved to the orange ranger as she left the room then turned back to each other. "So, are you and Tommy going to Angela's party tonight?" the yellow ranger changed the subject. "I heard it's supposed to be a big blowout. Lots of fun, food, and everything."

"I think so," Kimberly agreed. She brought a finger up to her chin and started to tap it. "That means that I finally have a good use for that new dress I bought last week. It's totally rad. It has this slit up the side with a pink, mesh material that reaches the same length as the rest of the dress."

"That sounds so awesome, girl!" Aisha declared. She started to say something else, but trailed off when her gaze was taken to the window. She got to her knees and peered out the window, squinting towards the grassy area in the backyard. She looked for a second then spotted a tiny white animal moving across the backyard.

"Aisha, what is it?"

"It's a cat!" Aisha beamed before turning and leaping off of her bed, hitting the floor running. "C'mon, let's get it! It might be a stray or lost or something." She and Kimberly hurried out of the room and out the back door. The two looked around the backyard before finding the small, white cat resting underneath a bush.

"Here kitty." Kimberly reached out towards it and the cat reacted viciously, snarling and slashing her across the forearm. "Ow!" The pink ranger squealed and quickly brought her arm back. The lines across her forearm bled a little bit. "Owww…that kitty isn't so nice."

"I'm sure it's just scared," Aisha said. She reached out towards the cat and picked it up. It purred loudly and nestled against Aisha's chest. "There. See? It's alright, kitty. We'll take care of you."

"Well, it is cute." Kimberly reached out and gently rubbed the cat on top of its head. "I wonder if it has a family."

Aisha shrugged as she inspected the cat. "It doesn't look to have any tags," she murmured. "But we should take it to the vet, it might have a chip inside it and someone may be looking for him." She paused then turned the cat around before giggling. "I mean, her," she quickly apologized. The cat meowed and climbed up onto Aisha's shoulder, purring once more and nuzzling its head against her cheek. "We'll go to the vet and see if she's chipped or anything."

"Do you want to go right now?" Kimberly asked. "If there aren't any chips in her, maybe you can take her. Save her from being put down like all of the others!"

"Hey, yeah!" Aisha beamed and the two girls hurried back into the house. "Let me just get my shoes. I'm sure my Mom and Dad won't mind. And then we can get her all of those cute cat clothes and toys and stuff."

Kimberly clapped her hands together and followed her friend into the house.

* * *

"What a day for Zordon and Alpha to go into their recharge, right?" Fred asked as he put down a blaster and inspected the side. Wires poked out all over the place; otherwise it appeared to be in working order. He wiped a smudge of grease off his hands and turned to Bailey and Billy as they worked on the ninjetti weapons beside them.

"I don't think it'll be that much of a problem," Billy said with a half smile. "Rita and Zedd haven't really been throwing anything our way as of late. I think we'll be okay."

"Famous last words, yeah?" Bailey teased him. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked over Adam's Frog Force. She twisted it back and forth in her hands then frowned. "Do you think it'd be possible to increase the range on this? Or the rest of our weapons? I mean, I know they were created by the powers that be, but that doesn't mean that we can't increase what has been given to us, right?"

Billy thought about it for a moment before shaking his head lightly, blond hair shaking in front of his blue-green eyes. "I don't think that'd be possible, Bay," he commented. "Not only, as you've already articulated, were these weapons created for our use specifically, but I don't think we have the power or the abilities to enhance them, especially considering we don't know what sort of things we'd be tampering with if we did try to work on them." He picked up a scrap piece of meal. "However, can we make our _own_ weapons? I believe we can. Actually, it's something that I've been looking a lot into as of late. Maybe even create a new branch of powers that we could use if these aren't enough."

Fred regarded him curiously before exchanging a look with Bailey, who appeared just as concerned. "Yu think the ninjetti powers wouldn't be enough?"

"I didn't say that," Billy protested. "But the monsters we face are continuously changing and growing stronger, so we need to be prepared just in case." He picked up a scanning device and flipped it in his hand. "You never know what'll happen next. Rita and Zedd might actually do something right for once." He laughed along with the two younger kids and went back to looking over the Wolf Howler. A light sigh escaped his lips as he examined it. "Who knows?"

Bailey smiled and reached over to pick up her Ankylo Arsenal then looked over at the Viewing Globe as something caught her eye. She frowned as it flickered like a TV being turned on and off repetitively. She replaced the weapon and backed away from the cart of weapon and walked over to the means that showed the rangers what they had to go up against when a new monster was coming to attack.

"What's up, Bay?" Fred called to her.

"Wait a minute…" Bailey trailed off as she tilted her head, looking at the Viewing Globe. She watched as the orange/gold light whirled across the face of the dome, quickly forming into a face, then manifested itself. She gasped loudly before turning to the blue ranger. "Billy. Billy! You should come see this."

Billy dropped the scanning device and wiped oil off his fingers before walking over to Bailey's side. He followed her shaky point and looked at the Viewing Globe. He stared hard as he watched the face of Diabolico appear on the View Globe, laughing at him. His surroundings slipped away from him as he watched the face of the monster that had killed his mother continue to laugh at him. A mocking, cruel laugh that taunted him; filling every nook and cranny of his head. It echoed in his head bouncing across his synapses, forcing him to his knees. Bringing his hands up to his ears, he tried to block it out, pressing as hard as he could with his palms, but it couldn't break away the laugh.

"No…" he said under his breath. "No."

_"You better catch me if you can. I have so many others that I'm going after now. The only way to stop me is if you can defeat me._

"It's Diabolico," Bailey said. "He's come back."

Fred, who was still standing with the weapons turned towards the two and frowned. He stood on his tip-toes to look over their heads before putting down a screwdriver and walking over. "What's going on?" He asked. "Is Billy okay?" He reached over and helped the blue ranger back to his feet and followed the rangers' gaze.

Billy swallowed thickly as he continued to watch Diabolico swirl back and forth across the Viewing Globe, his laughter increasing in volume by the second. He turned to Bailey, watching as her upper lip curled and her hands shook at her sides. She turned towards him.

"Are you ready?" Billy asked the purple ranger.

"Ready!" Bailey replied. The two quickly did the motions to morph into their ninjetti outfits.

"But guys!" Fred protested, trying to stop them before they teleported out of the Command Center. He turned back to the Viewing Globe and frowned as he looked at the static that glimmered across the surface of the dome. "There's nothing there."


	20. In A Party State Of Mind

**Chapter 20**

_In A Party State of Mind (1)_

**A/N:** The beginning of the chapter has some 'M' rated stuff in it, so be forewarned. Rating on the story will definitely go up 'M' soon, too.

* * *

Kimberly giggled as she raced up the back steps of her house and grabbed onto the door handle seconds before Tommy wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her from the door, spinning her around.

"Ha! I got you!" Tommy cried as he finished his rotation and set Kimberly back on the ground.

The pink ranger grinned and turned towards her boyfriend and leaned against his chest, her eyes sparkling. "No way! I got to the doorway first, so you lose!" She thought for a moment. "And for losing, you…have to give me a foot massage."

Tommy's face twisted up into an expression of disbelief with a hint of disgust before crossing his arms over his chest. "Despite how much you go to the salon and get your feet worked on…that's the last thing I'd want to do."

Kimberly blinked at him in surprise before turning and unlocking the door to the house, leading the two inside. "Really? So, even if we got married and I was pregnant and my feet were swelling, you'd hate to give me a foot massage? Geez, nice marriage we're going to have, right?"

Tommy laughed lightly as he followed Kimberly into the kitchen. He closed the door behind him as she called out to her mother, stating she had gotten back to the house. Getting nothing but silence in response, Tommy turned and watched as Kimberly took off her backpack and placed it on the counter before picking up a sheet of paper and read aloud, "Kim, have a late dinner meeting tonight, stopped back home to get changed. There's dinner for you in the fridge and a plate of cookies, too. Love you, Mom."

"Cookies?" Tommy's eyes lit up and he moved around his girlfriend, taking up the plate that was left on the counter. He leaned forward and sniffed the air around the cookies before smiling brightly. "Ah, that smells good. Don't mind if I do!" He picked up the plate and placed it on the kitchen table before sitting down and taking the largest one from the bottom. He took a bite and smiled warmly as Kimberly laughed. "What? This stuff is good! Your mom is a great baker."

"I know. It's a wonder that we haven't become so fat around here." The pink ranger poured the two of them a glass of milk and walked it over to the table, sitting down next to him. She leaned over and gave Tommy a kiss not he cheek. "How do you feel about having a fat girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't know." Tommy's voice was muffled as he bit into the cookie, taking half of it in one bite. Kimberly sighed lightly and picked up a cookie, gently twirling it in her hand with quick, deft movements of her fingertips. The white ranger glanced over at her and then furrowed his eyebrows together. "You can't be serious," he remarked.

"What?" Kimberly's hazel eyes moved over towards her boyfriend and she sat up, giving him as innocent of a look as possible. "What'd I say?"

Tommy turned towards Kimberly and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kim, you're not fat," he said to her. "I know that what Sharky told you has been stuck in your head, I know that with all of the things we've been going through lately, we've been under a lot of pressure. But you don't need to worry about your weight or anything."

Kimberly bobbed her head back and forth, still messing with the cookie in her hand. "I'm not worried about it." She twisted her mouth to the side then let out a short sigh before dropping her hands to her lap. "I don't even really care. It's just, I don't know." She reached out and picked up the cookie, dropping it into her mouth. She chewed a little before continuing. "It's a lot of pressure. I mean, I want to be a gold medalist in gymnastics. Not only do I have to work really hard for it, but I had to stay above my competition. And my competition is getting younger and younger each year. There are thirteen and fourteen year olds that are going to the Pan Globals and I want to be there." She picked up another cookie and started into that one as well. "I want to be able to get gold before I retire and start to teach gymnastics myself."

"Okay," Tommy said. "I understand that. And I know you love gymnastics, it's all you talk about. It's all you dream about." He then flashed a charming smile, causing Kimberly to roll her eyes although she smiled as well. "I'm proud that you continue to go after your dream. But what you need to know is that no one is better than you, Kim." He smiled and reached over, smoothing her hair out of her face. "No one I know is more driven, cheerful, or compassionate, than you are." His smile widened with warmth and Kimberly smiled back at him, finally able to relax a little. "And I'm glad you're a part of my life."

Kimberly reached out and slid her hand into his. "I'm glad you're a part of my life, too."

Tommy smiled and leaned in, giving her a gentle kiss. Kimberly smiled into the kiss before she kissed him back. As they kissed again, she brought her hands up to frame his face, gently running her fingers over the skin of his cheeks, sending goose bumps down Tommy's arms. He shuddered slightly and opened his mouth to take a quick breath, tilting his head to the side and kissed her again.

This time a passionate kiss.

Kimberly pulled back and chewed her lower lip for a moment before shifting her eyes to the side. "Umm…do you want to go up to my room?" Tommy's eyes widened slightly and he pulled back a little bit, studying Kimberly's face. As the silence stretched between them, Kimberly turned away, pulling her hair back behind her ears. "Sorry, I didn't mean, we don't have to…"

"No, no!" Tommy cut her off. He swallowed thickly. "I mean, if that's what you want. I don't want to rush you into anything Kim. I love you, and—"

"I love you, too," Kimberly replied. She lifted her head and regarded Tommy with a bit of nervousness. "So much more than you know." She started to say something else but then stopped, her eyebrows furrowing together as she heard something, the sound of the crane inside her crying, starting to fly around faster and faster as the seconds passed. Inside Tommy, the white ninja ranger could hear the falcon cry and start to fly as quickly s she could. "Tommy, I wasn't lying when I told you I love you and while it was hard to say it at first, I really do feel that way. The way I feel for you…it's just…"

"I know what you mean," Tommy agreed. He brought a hand up to his chest, feeling how quickly it was beating against his ribcage. "Just saying 'I love you' isn't strong enough for what I feel for you. But then, at the same time it's hard. It's hard to be a ranger and to go into battle and wonder if you're going to get hurt or if something bad will happen and I can't stand the thought of that."

"Same here," Kimberly agreed. "But at the same time, I don't ever want it to get in the way of our rangering and everything. But, I can't help the way I feel."

"Me neither."

Tommy leaned in and kissed her again, this time when they broke apart the two of them were breathless. Kimberly lowered her gaze, a light pink hue coming to her cheeks before she grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs to her room. Once they entered and she closed the door behind them a tense…something hung in the air between them, but it wasn't a match for the rangers. Once the door was closed behind them, it was like everything they had ever felt was finally out of the way.

The fight with Ivan, the destruction of their zords, the new zords, Rita and Zedd, everything ranger related, everything the two of them were going through went out the window as the two came together in a passionate, fiery kiss. Nothing mattered in that moment apart from the two of them; they weren't going to let it get in the way. The kissing progressed until they were laying down on Kimberly's bed with Tommy gently laying on top of her, resting his weight on his forearms so that he didn't press down too hard on her. His fingers gently ran through her hair, pulling at the tips and allowing the silk smooth tresses to glide over his fingers.

Kimberly, in turn, roamed her hands over Tommy's body. The body that had become more toned and muscular through their ranger fights, even more so than the martial arts practices he usually worked into his schedule did. She couldn't help but notice each and every inch of his tanned skin stretched over the muscles that rippled beneath the taut skin. She moved her hand under his shirt, gently brushing her fingertips across the skin of his stomach. Tommy leaned back, pulling his lips from the pink rangers and reached behind him, pulling on the neck of his shirt. It slid free of his body in a quick tug and as he tossed it aside, he paused and looked down at Kimberly.

Tommy looked down at his beautiful girlfriend, who looked up at him shyly through her eyelashes, hair fanned out over her silk pillowcase like a halo. The rangers smiled at each other and Tommy gave her a gentle kiss. He pulled back far enough so that he could rest his forehead against hers. "Are you sure, Beautiful?"

"I haven't been more sure of anything in my life, Handsome," Kimberly replied in an almost whisper.

Nodding a little, the white ranger leaned down and Kimberly raised her arms, accepting the long, hungry kiss he gave her. The moment their lips came together the floodgates opened and the two found themselves moving in a quick pace. Kimberly gasped loudly as Tommy turned his head to the side and started to kiss a path down her neck, hot and eliciting tiny mewls she didn't know she could make.

Chuckling to himself, Tommy continued to kiss her skin before reaching her collarbone and used his teeth to graze the strap of her tank top. He then kissed up underneath her chin and back to her lips before bringing his hands up to rub her shoulders, pushing the straps down. He ran his hands over her shoulders and down her arms before smoothing his palms over her chest, earning another gasp. He grasped the bottom of her shirt and gently pulled it up over her head and tossed it aside, onto the floor. He then moved back to plant some kisses to her chest and shoulders, leading down her arm until he kissed the palm of her hand, causing her to smile and giggle with each movement.

In turn, Kimberly ran her hands through Tommy's hair as she worked with her body, grabbing handfuls of his hair in pleasure, pulling it out from the ponytail and running her fingers through his hair. She traced a path from his hair down his arms and to his shoulders and chest, pressing her fingers into the skin, gently scratching him with her nails, bringing a groan from Tommy's mouth. She did it a few more times, receiving a groan each time in response. The tickling sensation causing goose bumps to rise over his skin.

Kimberly reached up with a hand and shoved hard on his shoulder, turning the two of them around. She then returned the favor that Tommy had done before, kissing every inch of his exposed skin. She gave a small, somewhat naughty smile each time Tommy would writhe underneath her and suck in a sharp breath. When she leaned back to his face he met her halfway before the two moved even faster. Shed clothes fell to the floor as the two embraced each other, caressed the exposed skin, drank in each other's scent and muffled the sighs and moans that escaped them. Hesitation was only evident as Tommy pulled away to reach over for his wallet.

As he pulled a condom from the inside pocket, he looked over at Kimberly, who lay beneath him and she met his gaze, eyes wide with anticipation. Tommy's shoulders, which had been tense throughout their ordeal, lowered as he relaxed. "Kim, are you okay?"

The pink ranger nodded quietly and reached up a hand, smoothing Tommy's fallen hair back behind his hear. "I'm fine," she whispered, voice cracking for a moment. "I'm just…a bit overwhelmed I guess." A light laugh escaped her lips. "I feel really….naked." The bluntness of her words caused the two rangers to pause before laughing lightly. That eased the tension a little. "That was stupid. I meant…"

"I know what you mean, Kim," Tommy reassured her.

And he did know what she meant. Apart from the two of them actually being so bare with each other for the first time, there was an air of vulnerability. Emotions and hormones spearing through his body made him think clearly, relive every emotional thing they had gone through. He pushed aside the thought of his order, the image of their zords falling apart and focused on the young woman beneath him. She was as beautiful as ever as she lied there, waiting for him to join her as one. And yet, he didn't feel nervous anymore. No. He loved her and that was all that mattered.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured her.

Kimberly nodded and closed her eyes as he leaned over her once more, as if trying to ward off a monster coming her way. Tommy unwrapped the condom and slid it over himself before angling himself over her and pushing forward. The pink ranger's face screwed up in pain for a moment, a crystal like tear falling out from her right eye, but Tommy brushed it away and rested his forehead against hers as he waited for her to relax. When she opened her eyes and wrapped her arms around him, Tommy reacted with surprise as she rolled her hips against his, causing a lightning bolt of pleasure to flash through his body. He then kissed her neck as the two moved together, gasps increasing in volume, holds increasing in strength against each other as they stole kisses in between. Tommy turned his head to the side to receive some air as Kimberly continued to move her hands up and down his back, lightly scratching him with her nails.

The pink ranger held him tighter as she increased her pace of rolling her hips against hi, meeting his thrusts with each movement until the two released, shuddering against each other. Then as they came down from their highs, nothing but the sound of them catching their breath breaking the silence, Tommy pulled back from Kimberly and rolled onto his side, reaching a hand out and gently stroking Kimberly's side. He looked over at her and found that she was already looking at him with nothing but love and admiration in his eyes. Tommy lowered his forehead against hers as they caught their breath.

"Wow," he finally managed to say.

Kimberly gave a sort of soft snort as she turned away. "Wow," she repeated. "That's all you have to say?"

Now Tommy rolled his eyes. "What do you want me to do? Set off fireworks?"

"I think you already did, Handsome." Kimberly gently swatted him on the chest and laughed lazily. She then fell silent, gently stroking his skin. "It's kind of weird," she murmured. "I thought I'd feel different after…I heard that you were supposed to. I don't feel different at all."

"…how do you feel?" Tommy's question was quiet. He was afraid of the answer, honestly. Not sure what would happen if she suddenly thought it was a mistake, if they had gone too far, if she regretted it. He tightened his grip against her, pulling her closer.

"The same," Kimberly admitted. "But not. I feel like I just fell in love with you again."

Tommy kissed her and rested his forehead against hers so they were breathing in each other's air. It was the least he could do. No words would even come closer to describing what he was feeling. "I love you, Kim."

"I love you, too, Tommy."

The rangers continued to lie there in comfortable silence, each having millions of thoughts running through their heads, all coming back to what their relationship would be like now that they had taken a major step in their lives. Would they be targeted more? Would they continue to move onwards and upwards with no end in sight? Graduating from high school seemed so far off but was something they had to be realistic about. But now wasn't the time to think about it, to talk about it. Now was the time to just bask in the afterglow of what they had shared.

"Uh, Tommy?" Kimberly said almost an hour later. She reached out and shook the white ranger's shoulder, breaking him out of his slumber. "As much as I love waking up next to you, we should probably get dressed."

"Oh yeah." Tommy stretched his arms over his head. "We don't want to be late for the party."

"Well, I was thinking that and I don't want my Mom to catch us in case she comes home early," Kimberly said.

Tommy blinked for a minute then his eyes widened as he looked at his watch. "That's actually a good point." With a flourish, he pulled back the covers and started to get up, then paused and practically dove to the floor. All of a sudden he realized how completely naked he was, despite what he had just done. It was weird now that they weren't in the heat of the moment. He didn't like to feel vulnerable, so open. It was a strange feeling. Hearing Kimberly laugh at him, Tommy peeked out from the side of the bed and watched as Kimberly gathered herself in her blankets before slowly sliding off the bed, being careful not to expose herself.

She gave a sheepish smile as she gathered her clothes from the floor and went to her bathroom, seemingly having the same thought Tommy did. The white ranger pulled on his clothes and made sure he had everything before walking over to the closed bathroom door and gently knocked on it. "Kim?" He called. "I'm going to go home and take a shower; I'll meet you at the party late, okay?"

The door opened and Kimberly stuck her head out long enough to smile at him and give him a kiss. "Okay," she said. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

He barely got the words out of his mouth before the words out of his mouth before the door closed in front of his face so quickly he had to pull his head back so that his nose wouldn't get stuck in the wood. He laughed to himself at the irony and started to leave the room, making it as far as the doorway before a sound made him stop. He paused and looked back over at the closed bathroom door. There wasn't a sound coming form it before. But he could've sworn he had heard Kimberly throwing up.

He stood in the doorway for a few minutes before he brought his communicator up and teleported outside of his house and headed inside. "Mom, Dad, I'm back. I need to take a shower before going to a party later."

"Okay, sweetie," Mrs. Oliver called back. "But could you come here for a minute, there's something we need to ask you."

Tommy hesitated, one foot on the bottom step of the stairs. He really needed to go take a shower, but…it could be important. Turning on his heel, he walked into the living room where he found his mother and father sitting on the couch, a couple of papers in their hands.

"Is that adoption stuff?" He asked them, walking over and sitting down on the chair closest to him. He crossed his legs as he leaned forward. "Have our papers been approved yet?"

Mr. Oliver smiled as he nodded. "They've been approved," he said. Tommy started to grin but Mr. Oliver held up a hand. "Don't get excited yet. We still have to have them come and do a home study to see that we're fit parents for them, but after that happens, then it can be about six months 'til we go to court to get it legalized."

Tommy's shoulders slumped. "We have to wait until December to know for sure?"

"At the latest," Mrs. Oliver replied quickly. "That doesn't mean that it can't happen quicker than that. Only time will tell. But we ask that you don't say anything to Avalon and Bailey yet. Which brings us to the other thing we wanted to talk to you about." She shifted closer to Tommy, ready to grab his hand, but he moved back a few inches, suddenly aware that he hadn't taken a shower yet. Neither of his parents showed that they knew anything about what he had just done, but there was a part of him that wasn't so sure. It could just be his own paranoia taking shape, but as he shifted his eyes back and forth between his parents they didn't seem to suspect anything.

"Would you want them to move in? Would that be alright?" She asked. "We're only asking because we know how excited you are to have them as sisters. But, considering what they've been through, we don't know if they'd want to leave the Cranston's house."

Tommy smirked as he leaned back in his seat. "I can guarantee Av wouldn't want to."

"What?"

"Nothing." Tommy rubbed his hands. "How about, when they all come over for movie night this weekend we can ask them then?" His parents nodded and he got up from the chair, looking at his watch. "I have to get going or I'll be late for the party. I'll see you later." He got up from the chair and started to leave the room.

He only stopped when he heard his father's snicker as his mother called, "Honey, why is your shirt on backwards?"

* * *

Zedd growled and shoved Rita's telescope away from him in fury. It flew to the ground, cracking in two before he walked over to it and started to stomp up and down on top of the telescope until it was reduced to tiny pieces.

"How dare she?" He growled, starting to pace back and forth. "How dare she do that to me?"

"What is troubling you my liege?" Goldar asked as he watched Zedd pace back and forth, nearly setting fire with each step due to his anger. "What has caused you so much anguish?" At this side, Scorpina took a step forward.

"Whatever it is you need, Lord Zedd, we'll do it for you," She said in her low, sultry voice. Bringing up her bone sword, she lovingly ran her fingers over it. "I've wanted to get a good use of this sword again. Rito's been having all the fun lately."

"That's because Rito has had a better track record than you two combined," Zedd snarled as he turned to face them. He was so red that Goldar and Scorpina had to shield their faces. "Be that as it may, I may need you for something. Maybe to be sure that I can get back at her."

"At who?"

"Kimberly! The puny pink power ranger!" Zedd's fisted hand shook violently. "My queen," he rumbled. "She defiled herself with that white ranger when I'm to have her for myself. She will be my slave."

Scorpina grunted, crossing her arms. "I don't see what's so special about her. And didn't you and Rita just get into a fight over something like this?"

"Oh don't worry." Zedd's anger slowly started to subside. "We're going to get her a pet, too. The white ranger, the one that manage to get away from her the first time. Both of them will be ours and without them, the rangers will fall apart. All we need to do is get their power coins, their ninjetti power coins, and their life force will be taken. They'll become so weak that we can crush them and then break the Kimberly's and Tommy's spirits in every way imaginable."

He glanced down at the telescope that rest in pieces on the floor. "Clean that up," he declared before sauntering off of the balcony, each foot step causing the room to rumble.

* * *

Rocky sighed as he watched the bead of blood pool up on his wrist and slide down his arm. It wasn't' a sigh of resignation, annoyance, or irritation. No. It was a sigh of relief. All of the pent up…stuff released in that cut, in the blood that leaked down his arm curling further and further away as it rolled down his arm. Reaching to the side, Rocky picked up the toilet paper that he had set up and pressed it to the wound in his wrist. He turned the toilet paper aside and grimaced when he saw the blot it left behind. Funny how he naturally wore so much red after having become the red ranger—like he was compelled to—and had actually grown to like the color all together, but seeing it on that toilet paper disgusted him a little bit.

Tossing it into the toilet and putting it out of its misery, Rocky went over to the sink and washed his hands, ignoring the slight sting that the warm water caused hitting his cut, then dried off and picked up his phone as he left the bathroom, jumping to the side as his youngest brother and sister ran by with their hands outstretched, covered in drying paint.

"Whoa. Whoa! What are you doing?" Rocky called after them.

Diego and Maria turned back towards Rocky, rubbing their hands together. "We're painting, Rocky," Antonio replied. "We're painting Mami a picture."

"Flowers and Butterflies!" Maria added.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping the paint _on_ the paper?" Rocky pointed out. He took them by their sticky hands, careful not to get any on his clothes, and walked them into the bathroom. "You know Mami doesn't allow you to paint without being clean."

"Mami didn't let us, Daddy did," Antonio replied.

Rocky reacted so violently that he jammed Mari's hand into the counter of the sink, causing her to start wailing. The red ranger placed a kiss to the back of her head, trying to shush her, but her cries brought Diego and Isabella into the bathroom doorway to see what happened. "What happened?" Isabella asked.

"Rocky hit her hand," Antonio dutifully replied,

"It was an accident," Rocky said quickly. He washed their hands and handed them a towel before turning to Isabella and Diego. "Guys, they said that Dad let them paint. What're they talking about?" He sat down on the closed toilet seat and briskly rubbed their hands with the towel.

Scratching the side of his neck, Diego hummed for a minute before replying. "You were in the shower. Mom had to run out to the store…."

"Dad's here," Isabella added.

Rocky lowered his head and let out a quiet curse, causing Maria to gasp loudly, and bring her hands up over her mouth before sharing a giggle with Antonio. Rocky waved them aside and then turned to his older siblings. "Is he still here? Why is he here?"

"You know why he's here, Rocky," Diego pointed out. "And…it might be a good thing."

"Our Dad being around is _not_ a good thing." Rocky looked at his watch. "I have to go. Tell Mami I need to talk to her when I get back." He waved goodbye to his brothers and sisters before leaving the bathroom, only stopping by his room to get his wallet before bounding down the stairs. He moved through the living room so quickly that he got out the door before his father, whom he saw sitting on the couch out of the corner of his eye, could speak to him.

He went out the door so quickly he nearly knocked Aisha off the front stoop. However with her new ninjetti abilities, she stood still and Rocky reeled back, the wind knocked out of him. The yellow ranger quickly brought up her hands and steadied him. "Whoa, sorry Rocko. I guess I don't know my own strength." She laughed. Rocky barely managed to eek out a smile and a laugh before going to his car. The yellow ranger started to follow him, moving quickly to match his stride. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yep," he replied shortly. "And if there was something going on, I really don't want to talk about it." He climbed into the cabin of his truck and Aisha got into the passenger seat. "Are we going to get Adam?"

"He said he wasn't going," Aisha replied. The red ranger shot her a look as he started the car and backed out of the driveway. He spotted his father in the window, watching them as he turned and peeled out of the neighborhood and drove a few streets away to go to the black ranger's house. "I think he's still…depressed over what happened with Sabrina."

"Yeah, well, out of everyone he needs this night more than anyone," Rocky pointed out. "And we've been through a lot, we all need this night off, you know?" He pulled into the Park's driveway and cut off the car. "C'mon. I'm not going to leave my best friend behind."

"How noble of you."

"I can be a prince charming when I need to."

"…do girls really fall for that line?"

"Most of them do."

Rocky grinned and Aisha reached out and shoved him as the two went up the front porch and knocked on the door. Adam answered the door and gave his friends a small smile in greeting. "Hey. Aren't you going to be late for the party?" He asked.

"Yep. But you're coming with us." Rocky reached out for the black ranger's arm, but he stepped back out of the way. "Look, man, we know that you really liked Sabrina…but what happened we can't go back and change. We didn't know that she was part of Scorpina…we don't know what they did to her, but we can't change it."

Adam took a deep breath and started to say something, but ran his hand over his hair, lowering his gaze. Rocky studied his best friend, suddenly seeing how upset the black ranger was. Well, maybe they could be party poopers together, it was better than dwelling over the problems with his father so much. Though as he continued to think about it, he could feel the pain flash through him once more, starting at his temple and coursing through his body.

 _Get over it, Rocky, everyone else has,_ he thought.

Rocky turned and looked at Aisha, who twisted her mouth to the side to hide her smile. The two nodded then leapt forward and grabbed onto the black ranger's arms. Adam's power of agility was no match for Rocky's power of the ape combined with Aisha's power of the bear and he soon found himself sandwiched between the two of them before he could move and close the door.

"Sorry, Ad, but you're coming with us," Aisha said.

"I don't have a choice do I?" Adam asked as he was forcefully pulled out of his house.

"No," Rocky and Aisha responded in unison.

"Can I at least get my shoes first?"


	21. Shots Fired

**Chapter 21**

_Shots Fired  
_

* * *

Where was that stupid pen?

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Billy took a break from his work in the lab and let out a deep sigh. All of the work was starting to eat away at him. But when he got started on an experiment, on a sort of project, on something that he absolutely needed to figure out, and then he couldn't get it out of his head. And in this case, it was Diabolico.

He had heard Fred call after him and Bailey when they had morphed and teleported out of the Command Center to confront him, but when they had arrived at the coordinates they thought the evil spirit had been, there was nothing there. Yes, Billy was aware there hadn't been any klaxon or warnings or sirens that had gone off when they left—not that it mattered much as Zordon and Alpha were during their recharge, but one he had seen the _thing_ that had hurt his mother….

He sprang into action.

His body reacted well before his mind did and before he knew it, the purple ranger had been back at the Command Center, working on their weapons once more, ignoring the pointed silence that Fred had sent their way, unsure of what to say after he had been proven right. And now he found himself in the lab, pouring over books about mythology and trying to figure out how it was possible for Diabolico to be there, to have been there before, when he was supposed to have been locked away.

 _What is it you're missing?_ Billy thought, drumming his fingertips on the side of his work bench. _It's always right in front of you; it's just a matter of working through every solution until you figure it out._ He let out a sigh. But this time it was escaping him and the thought of not understanding was driving him crazy.

He blinked and looked up as a hand waved in front of his face and turned to see Avalon standing next to him, her arms crossed and a jacket draped over her arm. He gave her a small smile, turning towards him.

"How long did you call my name this time?"

"I didn't. I just went right to making sure I had your attention, Smurf," she replied. Pulling back the stool next to him, she gently perched on top of it. "By the way, I just used your truck to take Bailey to Fred's house while we're at the party. There are no scratches that haven't already been on there."

"I'm not worried about you scratching my car, Ava; I'm worried about you not being able to see over the steering wheel." He smiled a little and the orange ranger reached out and shoved him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, but even Kim is short and she doesn't need a phone book to sit on to see."

"Kim is still, about, three inches taller than me. It's not my fault. Besides, what I lack in height I make up for in an astronomical sense of confidence."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." He laughed lightly before turning back to his work. "Is Dad shut in his room again?" At the silence he received, he knew the answer to the question and nodded. "That's about right. I keep pushing him to go back to work, but I don't want to rush him or anything. So I guess it's good that he's at least moving around the house now."

Avalon tilted her head to the side, regarding Billy with a long look before righting herself and clearing her throat. "Speaking of, here's your coat." She handed it over to him and he took it with a questioning look on his face. The orange ranger gave him a pointed look before sighing. "The party? We're all going to that big party, remember?"

"Party. Right. Sorry. I guess I forgot. I've been so busy."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said quickly and leaned over, giving her a quick kiss not he cheek to prove his point. "Really. I've just had a lot on my mind, a lot of things I need to do." He glanced at his cluttered work bench. "A lot of research that your father could help me with, actually," he said. "Bailey explained to me what happened to Ryan," he said and the orange ranger nodded. "And, what Diabolico really is…we…I _think_ we saw him earlier, on the viewing globe. But when we went to the place where it was, he wasn't there. I'm trying to figure out, how can he be here when he's in captivity?"

Rubbing the back of her neck, Avalon sighed for a moment. "I could give him a call if you'd like," she said. "I don't know how much it'll help because I don't know what work he's been doing with that, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Billy agreed. He chewed his lower lip, looking at his notes once more, but as he saw them start to wiggle around and cross before his eyes, he shook his head and turned away. He needed some time off. Some time to himself and to have fun, and not worry about anything else. For once in his life he was going to turn his brain off. "Well, we should get going to this party. God knows Kim is going to be on us if we're late." He started to get up, but the orange ranger grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Before we go, there's something I have to tell you. And if I don't say it now it'll eat away at me like a bloody leech." The blue ranger looked over at his girlfriend—is that what they were?—and waited for her to continue. She paused for a minute. "For the past couple of months, every now and then, I'd get a letter in the mail…from Chase." Billy's eyebrow rose. "I never opened them but he kept sending them…and then, not long ago, I thought I saw Summer and Skye back here. I told Lt. Stone but he said there was no news on them being back in town. So I went to jail to visit him, to be sure he had nothing to do with it."

"And?"

"He says he didn't."

"And you believe him?"

Avalon hesitated for a moment before responding honestly, "I do."

"Okay." Billy got up from the stool and started to pull on his jacket. He shrugged into it then adjusted the collar. Avalon stared at him, eyebrows rising as he turned towards her. His eyes shifted. "What?"

"That's all you have to say?" She asked. "When I tell you that I went and visited my slightly sadistic ex-boyfriend in jail and saw two people who more than likely tried to kill me, all you have to say is 'okay'?" She used air quotes around the words before crossing her arms. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

Billy laughed. "There's nothing going on, Ava. Don't worry about me." He reached out his hand and plucked out the keys she had been holding on to. "Actually, there will be if Kim notices we're late. You know how she is with punctuality. Let's go." He stepped around her and left the garage.

Avalon frowned as she followed the blue ranger through the house and out to his truck, calling back to David that they'd be back later. Starting to pull herself up into the passenger seat, she paused, a cold chill suddenly running down her spine like cold fingers. She took a step back and looked around for a minute, taking in the dark shadows that stretched across the lawn as the sun set.

Nothing.

And yet, she couldn't stop the feeling that she was being watched. She recognized the feeling immediately, noticing it was the same sort of feeling she had seconds before having Summer and Skye block her path. Shaking her head, the orange ranger too one last glance around the yard before climbing into the truck and pulling the door shut behind her. Buckling herself, she slid low in her seat, subconsciously trying to keep herself out of sight.

Why did she have to worry about it now? Chase said he had nothing to do with them being around, Lt. Stone said he hadn't heard anything about it. But then again, Skye and Summer had been Chase's right and left hand men, they knew the best ways to get around the city without getting caught and knew how to track someone to the point their entire schedule was found out. It wouldn't surprise her if the two really did want to get some sort of revenge on her for the High-Flyers getting the upper hand and taking over their territory in Los Angeles. But what was the point? Usually after someone got out, they were out and no one bothered them again.

It was why she hadn't gone with her first instinct to leave Angel Grove and go back to Australia. To run away like she usually did, so that she didn't have to constantly look over her back once more. But the fight against Ivan had taken her mind off of it and the other things that had plagued them since their rangering had increased in difficulty. Now they had to worry about Rito, Goldar, Scorpina, and all of the tengus, the same that had managed to destroy their zords.

There had to be at least _one_ point in time where they didn't have to worry about anything. Hopefully the party was going to do that for them.

Billy parked on the street a few houses down from the party and the two got out and strolled into the house. Kimberly immediately noticed them and bounced over, practically dragging Kat behind her. Their new friend appeared very uncomfortable, pulling at her skirt every few seconds as she looked around their classmates and schoolmates that milled around the house.

"Hey guys," Kimberly greeted them. "Look who came!" She pulled Kat to her side and smiled sympathetically. "She still doesn't know a lot of people here, but I thought that inviting her to this party would be good for her to meet some people."

"It would be," Kat agreed. "If things still weren't so…awkward. "She rubbed her arm. "I'm sorry, but parties aren't really my thing. I don't get the whole…drink 'til you puke thing."

Billy laughed lightly. "That's a common misconception people have about America, Kat," he said kindly. "Because of the shows and movies that glorify that sort of thing. But most of the parties that are thrown around Angel Grove are pretty tame. Nothing that the police are usually called for."

"Well, I don't know." Kat's nose wrinkled as she stepped out of the way of a senior that stumbled by, being held up by two of his buddies. "I was just thinking of going. I've been here a little bit already."

"Aw, but you're going to miss the fun of watching people fall over all night long," Avalon remarked with a half smile. "Should remind you of home, yeah? I haven't seen an Aussie Barbie not end with half of the adults face-planted in the sand.

Kat laughed and nodded in agreement. "I see you've met my Uncle. I love him to death, but he can't seem to hold himself together after he has a few drinks in him. You should see when he tries to Barbie after that. Not only does everything seem to burst into flames, but we've now come to expect it so much that we bring about five fire extinguishers just in case."

Kimberly beamed, clasping her hands together. "Oh, good, looks like you two are finally talking." She turned as Tommy appeared behind her holding onto two plastic cups of soda. "Thanks, Handsome." She smiled and gave him a quick kiss before clutching the cup of soda tightly in her hand, taking a quick sip.

"You're welcome, Beautiful," Tommy replied, sharing her smile. He looked around before addressing the pink and blue rangers. "The others haven't gotten here yet?"

"Ava and I just got here," Billy replied. "We haven't seen any of the others yet. Though considering how packed this place is, it wouldn't surprise me if it took a while to even get through the front door." He laughed, running a hand through his hair. "We were just talking to Kat about the way these parties work. Apparently they're not that different from those in Australia."

"They are when it comes to the quality of the food," Avalon finally said. She turned to Tommy and gave him a quick hug. "Hey bro."

"Hey sis," Tommy replied, hugging her back. "By the way, Mom and Dad wanted to know if you and Bailey would come over for dinner this weekend."

"Anything that'll keep me from having to eat his guacamole hamburgers again." The orange ranger pointed her thumb over towards Billy, who rolled his eyes. "They were fine the first time, but now I'm wondering if his taste buds haven't completely dropped off by one too many chemical clouds blowing up in his face from his experiments."

Kimberly and Tommy laughed as Billy merely smirked. Kat, who still felt that she was on the outside looking in, cleared her throat before taking a step back, grabbing the rangers' attention. "Hey, I think I'm going to head out. I'll see you guys at school."

"You're not going yet, are you?" Tommy asked. He put his arm around Kimberly's shoulders, hugging her to his side. Kimberly beamed and wrapped both of her arms around his waist, hugging him back. "Stay a while. I know these things can be kind of rowdy sometimes, but it's a great way to meet some more of our classmates." He gave her a sheepish smile. "I can introduce you to some people. It's the least I can do after being so late for your first day at school."

"Um…" Kat's cheeks flushed lightly as she shuffled her feet. "I guess…I can stay a little while longer. I don't really have much to do other than homework, so I guess putting it off a little bit longer isn't going to hurt."

"I see you've been spending a lot of time with this one," Billy joked, pointing to Avalon, who elbowed him in the side. "Ow! I was kidding."

"I know; I wanted to do it anyway." Avalon brushed her hair behind her ears and bobbed and leaned back and forth, trying to get a good view around the teenagers that crowded the living room and spilled back and forth from the kitchen and the back yard. "Where'd you get the drinks?"

"Backyard," Tommy explained. "The picnic table to the left. But be careful. There are some people who are using the hot tub as practices for their cannon balls; you don't want to get hit by the tidal wave." He grimaced slightly. "The football team is trying it this time."

"Good to know." Avalon shuddered slightly before stepping around the group and pushing her way out to the backyard, elbowing anyone that came to close to her as they tried to move through the packed house. She stepped outside and looked around the party, frowning slightly as she looked around the teenagers milling around there.

They looked so…peaceful, so stress free. The only thing they were worrying about was who was going to win the first football game of the year, Angel Grove High or Stone Canyon High. They probably didn't worry much about the monster attacks considering how quickly the power rangers usually took care of it. No, instead they were the ones that were able to act like normal teenagers and dream about what colleges they would find themselves in within the next year.

An as the orange ranger strolled across the backyard, she felt that familiar foreboding feeling once more. This time it was different, more eerie. She was surrounded by people; almost everyone in the school seemed to have come, and yet she could still feel as if there was a pair of eyes on her. Her shoulders slowly started to rise towards her ears as her steps slowed to an almost stop. She twisted back and forth, trying to see through the crowd, hoping to find someone that stood out. It wasn't until her second pass over the backyard that she noticed two figures standing off towards the side of the group, as if having just come through the door in the fence.

The orange ranger became transfixed on the two figures and she pushed the partygoers out of her way as she surged forward, coming upon them. She let out a low growl when she finally reached Summer and Skye, who calmly watched her approach.

That part worried her the most, had her red flags flying up in seconds, and was that they didn't try to appear that they _weren't_ supposed to be there. That they had waited for her to get close enough, as if they had arranged the whole meeting days prior. No, it was that and the calm, confident expressions on their faces. Her warning siren was going haywire at that moment, causing her to clench her hands into fists; moving one of her feet back so that she had a means to turn and run in case they lunged towards her.

"Hey," Skye greeted her.

Avalon's eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Bet you didn't think you'd see us again," Summer added. She made a show of placing her hands on her hips, pushing back the sides of her vest.

Avalon's eyes were immediately drawn to the butt of a handgun that poked out of Summer's pocket.

* * *

"Wow," Adam said as he followed Rocky and Aisha into the house. "This place sure is packed." Which was an understatement. Having had arrived shortly after the other rangers had, the party had gone into full swing by that point. There weren't very many places for people to sit, stand or talk. Couples littered the stairs, some talking, some making-out, and others continued to stream up and down stairs exchanging sly looks as they went. Others were standing in the living room as they conversed with each other; some with plastic cups in their hands, others with beery bottles.

"Looks like it's been going on for a while, too," Aisha agreed. She practically had to shout to be heard, causing Rocky and Adam to lean towards her to hear her. "Something tells me that the place is going to be completely trashed by the time the party's over."

"Yeah, well, we should have fun while it lasts," Rocky pointed out. "Before you know it we're going to be called back to fight some sort of monster or something." He rubbed his hands together as he looked towards the kitchen. "Now, what kind of food do they have?"

Adam laughed lightly as he followed Rocky further into the house, looking for the other rangers. Aisha had followed Rocky to the kitchen and before he knew it, was by himself with hundreds of teens pressing in all around him. Not to say that Adam particularly disliked parties or hanging out, but he wasn't someone that enjoyed having a _lot_ of people around. He didn't do well with big crowds, having a small group of friends was typically how he operated.

For a long time he didn't have many other friends besides Rocky and Aisha. The three were the ones that went through school together as their own little group; popular, but not so popular that everyone liked to be around them, but not complete outcasts either. Not that Rocky and Aisha ever had that problem. They were both very outgoing, always knew how to talk to people; always had smiles on their faces, a joke, or a funny story on the tips of their tongues. And Rocky was always using that talent to meet new people—girls especially—but would never brag about it. Aisha, on the other hand, always had a bunch of girls that ere around her, talking about clothes and makeup and the committees and clubs they were a part of. It was no wonder she fell into being friends with Kimberly so easily.

But Adam, on the other hand, was the quieter one. In large groups he rarely spoke up unless there was something important to say. In smaller groups he talked more often, but still had a quieter tone to his voice. Strong and silent. That's what people said to describe him, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. How cold everyone else around him be so comfortable in who they were, know how to navigate their lives and he was the one that seemed to be on the outside looking in, wondering when he was going to get the memo and be the same way.

"Hey! Adam!"

Adam looked up and gave a grateful smile when he spotted Kimberly waving towards him. She, Tommy, Billy, and Kat had managed to get the chairs and a couch on one side of the living room, enough space for all of the rangers. The black ranger went over and sat down in an empty spot towards the end of the couch. "Hey guys," he greeted them. "Some party, huh?"

"I'll say," Tommy agreed. "But it's nice to be able to have some time to ourselves for once."

"I know what you mean," Adam agreed. He was really starting to wonder when it was that the rangers would get the chance to act like normal teenagers. How many monsters could be brought down that they could take out in seconds before they got a few minutes to breathe? How long would they be able to hold up the responsibility that had been bestowed upon them before they all cracked under the pressure?

Being a senior was hard enough with all of that stress, but being a ranger made it that much harder.

"But there's always something going on," he added. "Football games, sporting events, some sort of dance." He wrinkled his nose a little. "There seem to be a _lot_ of dances at this school."

"Oh, good!" Kat's eyes lit up as she sat up in her chair. "I love to dance. That should be a lot of fun."

"They are," Billy agreed. "The Student Life Committee always does their best to top the dance that was put on the year before. The other events that we have for homecoming and stuff should be just as entertaining."

Adam looked up as Rocky and Aisha came over to their friends; the red ranger held a platter of sandwiches in his hands while Aisha carried a small bowl of chips. Placing the two items down on the table between the plastic cups that lined the table, the yellow and red rangers joined the group. "What are we talking about?" She took a handful of chips before passing the bowl to Billy who passed it around the circle; Kimberly mimed taking a handful before passing the bowl when it was her turn.

"Dance," Tommy explained. "Kat was saying that she's a dancer."

"Really?" Aisha's eyes widened. "That's so cool!"

Now Kat appeared embarrassed, ducking her head so no one could see her face, saying modestly, "I wouldn't say that. I just like to do it for fun."

"No, really," Rocky said with a full mouth. He smiled warmly at Kat. "That's really cool. What kind of dancing are you into?"

"I don't know; a lot I guess. Ballet, jazz, tap…"

"Really? That's really cool."

"Thank you."

Aisha huffed and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. Adam gave her a sympathetic smile, to which she gave a fleeting one in response. But Adam could see that the damage had already been done, especially as Rocky and Kat continued to talk about the different dance styles she participated in. On the other side of the group, Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy were talking about something as well. Adam clasped his hands together between his hands, unsure of what to say to jump into the conversation, unsure he even wanted to. A part of him just wanted to get up and leave, to go back to his martial arts practice that he had been doing before having gotten taken out of the house by his friends.

 _I know they're trying to help, but still._ Adam reached out and picked up one of the cups on the table. He brought it to his mouth and managed to swallow half the cup before the bitter taste hit his taste buds. Is face immediately screwed up before he registered that he had just drank some beer rather than soda as he thought the dark colored liquid was. _It's not a big deal is it?_ He asked himself. _People have been telling us for years not to drink, what it can do, but it doesn't taste so bad. I don't feel any different._ He stared at the cup for another moment before tilting his head back and finishing the rest of the drink.

It was a big gulp and the contents hit his empty stomach a lot quicker than he anticipated. A strange, tingly feeling came upon his head and slightly down his arms and it made him smile. He felt warm, loose; looser than he usually did in large social gatherings like this one.

"But is there really that much of a difference between jazz style of dancing and modern?" Rocky asked as Adam turned back into the conversation, picking up another cup and a handful of chips as well. "I mean, in the name, sure, but it seems like—"

"She just explained it to you, Rocky!" Aisha said with a bit more force than she intended, judging by the slight smile on her face when all eyes turned to her. "I mean, I knew you could be slow in some things, but I never thought forms of entertainment were one of them." Rocky shot her a small glare and she smiled sweetly in response.

"I think what she means is that it'd be cool if you showcased it sometime," Kimberly spoke up for her friend. "We have a talent show for spirit week every year. Why don't you do it then?"

"Oh, I couldn't," Kat said. "I'm too shy."

"That's alright," Adam spoke up, voice louder than necessary. Tommy gave him an odd look. "I'm kind of shy, too! But these guys have been great when it comes to making you feel welcome." He finished half of his second cup of beer and started to put it on the table, but missed and dropped it directly to the floor. "Oops!" He started to laugh as he watched the beer spill out around the floor. "My bad."

"Adam, are you feeling okay?" Aisha asked him.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Does anybody want a drink?"

Rocky, startled by Adam's near shout, jumped, knocking the tray of sandwiches to the floor. He made a whimpering sound as an expression like that of a wounded puppy slid onto his face. He seemed to decide whether or not to go after it and crossed his arms, slouching in his seat.

"Hey, why don't you lay off of that stuff a bit," Tommy said to the black ranger. Eyeing him with concern, the white ranger reached out and grabbed onto a few extra cups and pulled them back away from him. "Man," he said under his breath. "It's like he's hyper or something.

"No, I don't think that's it," Billy said solemnly.

Holding his hands over his mouth to keep back his giggles, Adam caught the eye of the rangers that were sitting across from him and started to laugh again, holding his sides as tears slipped out of the corner of his eyes and slid down his cheeks. He couldn't help it, they just looked so _funny_.

"Is he okay?" Kat asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah, he just needs something to eat." Rocky picked up a bowl of chips and shoved them into Adam's chest, causing him to giggle. The red ranger then turned back to Kat with a smile, albeit a nervous one. "So, Kat, I was thinking since Tommy wasn't really able to show you around the school, maybe I could—"

Aisha suddenly sat up straight, her eyes widening. "Did you hear that?" She asked.

"I didn't hear any—"

Billy was suddenly cut off by a loud scream and the rangers looked over to see the crowd starting to disperse, giving the rangers the perfect view of a Tenga. It flapped its wings and walked over to one of the leftover platters and started to peck at it, taking large bites of the food each time around. Another Tenga came flying from the kitchen, squawking and jumping around, causing kids to scatter. Most appeared frightened, but others appeared that they enjoyed the show the Tengas were putting on.

"Look!" Adam cried gleefully. "Tengas!"

"What are they doing here?" Kimberly asked.

"Who knows, but we have to stop them," Aisha said. The rangers got to their feet and as Kat got swept up by the increasing crowd, the rangers looked for a place where they could morph. Every place they went was occupied by their classmates until they finally managed to get into the master bedroom and bathroom after Rocky forced their way in. "Never thought I'd get the chance to say I morphed in a bathroom."

"Oh, like the locker rooms at Ernie's are any better," Kimberly shot back. She then looked around the group. "Where's Av?"

"I don't know," Tommy said, lowering his communicator from his mouth. "She's not answering her communicator. I hope something bad didn't happen."

"Well, something worse will if we don't get the Tengas out of here," Billy reminded him. "You guys go after them and Adam and I'll look for Ava." He reached out and placed his hand on the black ranger's shoulder as he seemed to start swaying back and forth. "Okay?"

Adam looked over at Billy and nodded before slowly leaning in towards the blue ranger, causing the smarter teen to lean back out of the way. "Hey…didn't you used to wear glasses?" He brought his hand up towards Billy's face, and the blue ranger immediately wrenched the black ranger's hand away from his face.

"We'll deal with whatever's going on later," Kimberly said quickly. "We have to stop the Tengas and figure out what they want."

"Right." Tommy nodded.

"Ninja Ranger Power!"


	22. Party Hard

**Chapter 22**

_Party Hard  
_

* * *

"I can't wait until we're old enough to be able to go parties like the ones that our friends are going to," Fred said as he opened a bag of popcorn and upended it into the bowl that sat by his side. "Not that I don't enjoy hanging out, but I mean, there has to be something going on there that we don't get just watching movies, right?" He turned around, tossing the bag of popcorn to the side. "I mean, yeah, practicing our martial arts training as we get ready to test going up a belt, finally, is cool too."

He waited for a response, but found the purple ranger still sitting on the couch, arms crossed over her chest and gently chewing her lower lip. A pensive expression was on her face and every now and then it would deepen or lighten as another thought crossed her mind.

"Bay!" There was a long moment of silence and Fred sighed before picking up the bowl of popcorn and moving to the living room. He flopped down onto the couch next to his friend and dropped the popcorn bowl onto the table in front of him then leaned back, crossing his arms. Turning his head to the side, he watched Bailey for a moment then called her name again. "Bay."

She made a sound that proved she heard him and went back to the same position she had been in before. Sighing heavily, Fred tilted his head back and looked towards the ceiling. "I thought being the boyfriend of a power ranger would be fun."

Bailey twitched for a moment then turned to face him, eyebrows moving together in confusion. "Did you just say boyfriend?"

"Sure. That's the only part that you heard out of everything that I said." Fred dropped his hands to his lap and turned to face Bailey. Then the words that he had just said suddenly crashed upon him and he blushed, quickly changing the subject. "What's going on? You've been a space cadet since you got here. Are you still thinking about that thing with Diabolico?"

"It wasn't a _thing_ , Fred, I saw him!" Bailey insisted. "I know I did! Billy saw him, too."

"But he wasn't there, Bay."

"And you keep saying that, but I saw him." Bailey tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. "I mean, I know he's a demon spirit or whatever, but that doesn't mean that he can't come out here. He did that when everything with Billy's mother happened. How was he able to come out and attack us?"

"You answered you own question, Bay," Fred pointed out. "He's a demon spirit; they're able to get through to anything, just like ghosts that don't go to the light. What makes you think that it's not possible for a monster to do it as well?" He pulled his hat off his head and ran his fingers through his hair before replacing it so that the brim faced the front.

His lower jaw shifted to the side, thinking about it. He hadn't seen anything on the viewing globe, but Billy and Bailey surely had. Not only had they seen whatever it as they had seen—he still wasn't exactly sure what it was they truly had seen that caused them to morph and teleport so quickly—but it had caused them to react as badly as he had ever seen them move.

Not even when Ivan had been destroying the city had he seen her react so badly. With Ivan, things had been so normal for her, she had been so nonchalant about the whole thing, moving at such a quick pace while trying to help out Alpha, save Zordon, and figure out what it was that could help defeat Ivan. She had managed to get Fred, Bulk, and Skull on her side and have them help her out to the best of her abilities, even faced down a giant robotic monster that could've easily crushed her, right before retrieving her ninja powers. And she was worried about a demonic spirit that may or may not have actually been there.

He told her as such, causing Bailey to roll her eyes.

"I'm not saying that it's not possible, I'm just saying I don't get why he would still be around," Bailey said slowly, brushing her hair back from her face. "Why would he come back and want to terrorize me and Billy?" She held up a hand as Fred gave her a 'duh' look. "I get the logistics, but what does _he_ get out of it?"

Fred snapped his fingers. "You two going crazy."

"Huh?"

He sat up straight and twisted towards her. "Think about it, what would happen if there were any rangers that were going crazy? They wouldn't be able to function as normally as possible and would be a liability in battle."

"That doesn't sound like something that he would do on his own, especially as he was taken in by Rita and Zedd's work in the first place." Bailey reached out and started to drum her fingers against her chin. "Wait, what does that mean for Ryan?" At Fred's confused glance she let out a nervous breath. "I guess I haven't told you about that. My dad basically was told that he was allowed to cheat on his wife, whom was dying of cancer, and went with my Mom and had Av and me. However, he also has…or had, two other children; Ryan and Dana. One night there was a car accident and Dad, Ryan, and Dana were hanging off the side of a cliff. Apparently, Diabolico had arrived and said that he'd save Ryan, as they were all about to drop, only if he could take him away from Dad and Dana until a certain age or whatever."

"So what does that have to do with you?" Fred's eyes narrowed. "Actually, why would a demon spirit want a child?"

"Who knows, mate. But he did it and he's gone. And now Dana, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't know about us and everything is a mess. Especially now that Diabolico is back, but also because there's so much we don't know about our new powers and it's really starting to stress me out."

Bailey flopped back onto the side of the couch and exaggeratedly pouted, causing Fred to laugh a little. She brushed her hair out of her face and let out a light sigh. "How do you put up with this?" She asked after a minute.

"You being crazy? I don't know I've been trying to figure that out myself."

The purple ninja ranger reached out and grabbed onto a pillow, whacking Fred on the side of the head with it. "You're funny Mr. Kelman. So bloody funny." She whacked him again for extra measure then hugged the pillow to her chest. "No, I mean, how do you put up with all of this power ranger stuff? We were told to keep everything secret for a reason, not only because of the danger and responsibility, but because of how hard it must be to not have powers yourself."

Fred brought his hand up and grabbed onto his hat. He nervously started to pass it back and forth between his hands, studying it as he did so. Maybe the better question was how did he manage to keep moving on day after day with only his father around? He hadn't thought about his mother for a long time, and had even gotten to the point where he essentially tricked himself into thinking she hadn't existed. She had walked out on him and his father shortly after he was born and it had been just the two of them ever since. Before he had met Bailey he didn't realize there was anyone else out there that would've potentially had a similar background to him. If he ignored the whole power rangers thing and the older sister that had gang connections.

"It's not hard exactly," he replied after a minute. "I don't mind just as long as we can hang out. And you're doing so much to help the city and everything so…" he lifted his head, shrugging. "And, I mean, I'm helping out in my own way, in the Command Center. So that's cool."

"Fred?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

Fred let out a deep breath as he tilted his head back. "Yeah, I guess." He didn't elaborate any further, but continued when he noticed Bailey's eyes still on him. "Well…I guess I should've been asking you the question you asked me. How do you deal with being a ranger? Ever since Ivan took over Dad's mind…or whatever, I'm afraid it'll happen again. I'm afraid that we haven't been able to change him back, to get him back, and that he's going to try and strangle me in my sleep or something." He gave a humorless laugh. "I'm afraid that each time you guys go out to fight that you won't win and that something terribly will happen to the city, even worse than what's happened before. I don't know how you deal with the pressure, knowing that everything…everyone's lives are in your hand. Not only here on earth but…on other planets too, and the only way you can do that is if you defeat Rita and Zedd."

"Sometimes it feels like there's never an end in sight," Bailey admitted. "That there's always going to be something going wrong, that there's always going to be something else that comes up that'll keep us from being able to be normal for once." She shrugged. "I guess it's worth it, though."

"Why's that?" Fred locked his gaze with Bailey and suddenly found himself staring at her. His palms suddenly filled with sweat and his hear thudded against his chest. He frowned, suddenly noticing how warm the room got and realizing that he couldn't take his eyes away from the purple ninja ranger.

"I wouldn't have realized that I'm not just a 'little sister' and can't do anything to defend myself," she explained, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I can actually make a difference when it comes to helping people and expanding myself in the means of my science experiments and stuff."

"Oh."

Fred finally turned away from the purple ranger and picked up the bowl of popcorn, bringing it into his lap. He tossed a handful into his mouth and crunched down on them. He barely flinched when her communicator went off, putting the bowl back onto the table. "I swear; I can set my watch to that thing by now."

"You're not the only one," Bailey replied. She brought the communicator up to her mouth and pressed the button on the side. "Come in, Zordon."

"There's a disturbance at the party that the other rangers are attending. Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina have touched down and are already wreaking havoc," Alpha explained. "You need to get there are soon as you can. If they managed to destroy the zords last time, who knows how strong they are this time around."

"You got it, Alpha, I'll be right there." Bailey lowered her communicator and turned to Fred. "Gotta go. Maybe you can figure out _something_ that'll stop them, or something that'll slow them down for once, yeah?"

"You got it!" Fred said, giving her a thumbs up.

The purple ranger paused for a minute then leaned in and gave Fred a quick kiss. He stood still, rooted in spot as she pulled back, cheeks turning red. "It made me a bit more confident, too." She waved her arms in the movements to bring the powers of the lion upon her. "Ninja Ranger Power!"

She morphed into her ninjetti outfit and teleported herself and Fred to the Command Center before teleporting back to the party.

* * *

"Man, slow night," Bulk remarked as he brought his feet up to rest upon the dashboard of the police cruiser. "Isn't there anything that's going on tonight? Anything at all?" He threw up his hands before crossing his arms over his chest. "It hasn't been this slow since that Ivan Ooze monster was around."

"Don't complain, Bulkmeyer," Lt. Stone remarked with a calm sigh, leaning back in his inclined seat. "We're off the clock, remember? Off-duty. We're taking some time off so that we can get some time off to relax before something inevitably goes wrong and we have to rush off and take care of it." He paused. "Like we usually do."

Skull tilted his head to the side before he grabbed the sides of Lt. Stone's and Bulk's seats and pulled himself forward until his head was poking through the seats. He looked back and forth between Bulk and Lt. Stone. "But, if we're off-duty, then why are we sitting here in the car rather than, I don't know, going somewhere and actually taking time off? Like the pool hall?"

"Because, Skullovitch, even when you're off-duty there are going to be times where you have to go in and do what you have to do," Lt. Stone explained. He opened his eyes and looked at his watch. "And as you already know, there are many parties that are thrown at this time of night on the weekend. Not only are they rampant for having underage drinking and some sort of debauchery that's going to befall upon them, but that means there are going to be more calls for police officers to try and shut them down. Which is what we're here for."

"Riiiiight." Skull leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "So what does this mean for us graduating from the police academy? I think we've beat the streets enough time to know what sort of protocol to use when chasing down a thug."

"Be patient Skull," Bulk said, resting his hands on his stomach, mimicking Lt. Stone's position. "There's going to be enough for us to deal with. Especially when it comes to the inevitable monster attack that's bound to happen. We'll get even more experience when we help out those in need."

"Right," Skull agreed, his voice flat.

He couldn't help it.

Ever since he and Skull had managed to help out the power rangers when Ivan attacked, he felt that there was something he was missing. Something that he had been waiting for, for a long time. Not only had he put his life on the line when trying his best to keep Angel Grove from falling to the clutches of the evil ooze from space, but he also had a major role of responsibility. Something even bigger than he ever had when just working as a police officer. He and Bulk had been one of the driving forces in keeping the transfixed adults from jumping off the side of the cliff like Ivan had told them to do. Then going back to being a police officer…something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He still wanted to be seen as mature, as doing something and _being_ something more than the class clown and resident bully that he and Bulk had been known as before. Turning his head, he looked out the window and watched as a couple walked by, holding doggie bags as they headed towards their cars. He turned back to the front seat and held out a hand. "Pass the left over chow mein."

"Here you go."

Bulk passed back the Chinese box back and Skull picked up a pair of chopsticks and started to poke around inside. He brought the bite up to his mouth and started to take a bite, but jumped, spraying the car with Chinese food at the sound of the police scanner crackling.

Lt. Stone jerked in surprise as he felt the pieces of Chinese noodles fall over his face and lap. Bulk, who had been hit with the same amount of food, slowly turned around and glared at his best friend, who gave a sheepish wave in response.

"This is Lt. Stone, what's the location?"

"We have a massive party going on in Hollygrove Hills, there've been calls of loud music disturbances as well as there being some reports of underage drinking."

"We're on our way, thanks for the heads up." Lt. Stone replaced the walkie-talkie from the scanner and buckled himself up. "Clean up, boys. We've got a house call that we need to make. Don't be surprised if half of the party ends up in the drunk tank." He turned on the car as Bulk and Skull brushed the flung food off of themselves and buckled up. The lieutenant peeled out of the restaurant parking lot and to the address that had been given to them.

Once they arrived at the house, sirens off, Skull leaned towards the window and watched as teens streamed out of the house and onto the front lawn, going in and out as the seconds passed. There were some that were stumbling, trying to hold each other up, as they went. There were some sitting on the grass, some lying on their backs, others appeared to hold themselves up fairly well and were talking and laughing casually. If there were any teens that noticed they had arrived, no one gave any indication there was any of wanting to leave.

"Right." Lt. Stone straightened his belt. "You two check inside and see what's going on. I'll speak to some of the party goers out here. Anything you think needs my attention you call me on the walkie-talkie. I trust you can handle things that you know to be serious."

"Sir, yes sir!" Bulk and Skull agreed, giving a salute.

The two headed into the house and Skull nearly lost his balance on the first few steps, noticing that there was empty beer bottles littered across the ground. Lifting his head he watched as dancing teens and teens standing around packed the floors from wall to wall. Being only a few years older than his former classmates, he knew there were many there that weren't legally allowed to drink. There were going to be a lot of tickets and warnings handed out as well as arrests made. Especially if they found who owned the house and allowed the illegal substances to be carried out.

Bulk sighed. "I think we should get started, he, Skull?" he clapped Skull on the shoulder before cracking his knuckles. "This is going to be a long night."

"I'll start upstairs," Skull offered. He knew there were a lot of illegal substances that were more than likely to be passed around during the party and wanted to get a quick start on those before it became too much. "Let me know if you need help." He lifted his belt, making sure it settled around his waist, and started up the stairs. Stopping in the first room, he caught a couple of kids sitting around and talking, open beer bottles in their hands. They looked at Skull with expressions rivaling deer in headlights, and he sighed. "I'm assuming you're not old enough to drink? Get out. C'mon guys." He waved a hand, motioning them out of the room and down the stairs.

The kids scurried by him and out of his sight as he made the rounds the rest of the room. By then, more of the partygoers noticed his presence and quickly moved away from him as he continued down the hallway, stopping at each of the rooms. It wasn't until he reached the last room that it gave him pause as the door was locked. No problem, there was usually only one explanation as to why the door would be locked. Taking in a deep breath, Skull reached out and knocked on the door.

"AGPD," he called. "Open the door!"

He waited a few moments, hearing a scrambling sound on the inside, and took a step back as the door was suddenly flung open and two teen boys rushed by, quickly pulling their shirts down over their heads. Skull watched them for a minute before turning back to the room and looking in, turning on the light. His eyes were immediately drawn to the bed where he saw a familiar female form with her shirt resting haphazardly at the end of the bed. Skull walked closer to the female and stood over her on the bed, peering at her face

His heart sank as he recognized Sharky lying lifelessly on the bed. "Sharky?" He called before reaching out and nudging her on the arm. She lolled back and forth before Skull moved closer and grabbed onto her hand, pressing his fingertips against her wrist. "Sharky? C'mon, get up." He found a pulse and frowned when he saw that she was still knocked out. "Sharky!" Moving closer, Skull moved his ear towards her mouth and found that her breathing was faint. "Dammit!" Skull slipped his arms underneath Sharky's form and easily lifted her up into his arms. He walked her out of the room and back down the stairs, outside. "Lt. Stone!" He called. "I need an ambulance!" He walked Sharky to the cruise and carefully laid her down in the backseat, where her head rolled to the side and she let out a low groan. "Don't worry, Sharky." Skull reached out and smoothed her hair back from her face with a gentle touch. "Everything's going to be okay."

"What happened?" Lt. Stone had hurried over at Skull's call and he suddenly appeared at Skull's side. "You want to call for an ambulance?"

"She's passed out," Skull explained, heart hammering against his chest. "I don't…I don't know what's happened to her. She's…something went wrong." Lt. Stone nodded and looked Sharky over as he pulled out his walkie-talkie to make the call. "Look, I know she violated her probation, but is there any way we can make sure that…I don't know that she doesn't get anything else?"

"I need an ambulance over at Hollygrove Hills; we have a teenage girl passed out. Unknown cause, unknown if substances were involved," Lt. Stone relayed. He then turned to Skull and placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'll stay with her to be sure she's alright. You go get Bulk, I'm sure he'll want to know about your friend, too."

Skull nodded and turned to go, only turning back when Lt. Stone caught his attention.

"And Skullovitch? You reacted quickly and did the right thing. I'm sure your friend is going to be okay."

Skull nodded and hurried back into the house to find Bulk. He found his friend in the backyard, taking a few beer bottles from some of the partygoers. Skull reached him just as there was a loud shout of "gun" and he turned to the side to see Avalon taking a few steps back away from two unfamiliar figures, her hands up in the air. Bulk and Skull looked at each other and moved towards the three, but were swept up with the sudden stampede of running and stumbling teens.

Once they were back on their feet, they found Avalon kneeling on the ground with the two figures nowhere in sight. Bulk and Skull hurried over to their friend and helped her to her feet. "Avalon, are you okay?" Bulk asked her.

Avalon turned towards them with wide eyes. "Did you see them?" She demanded.

"See who?" Skull returned.

"Summer and Skye! They were just here, I swear it! They were bloody here!" Avalon twisted in Bulk's grasp, trying to get away from him, trying to see around the party. "Did they get away?"

Skull's eyebrows furrowed together for a moment. Summer and Skye? He wasn't sure if those two had been who he had seen. The last time he had seen those two, they had raced off down the street after having shot the orange ranger. Then he had Bulk had, in turn, been appointed her bodyguards while the AGPD made sure that Summer and Skye had really left the city and Chase was safely in police custody. She had been one of the people that had vocally and wholeheartedly showed her support for them to work through the police academy and become great police officers. As well as having been their friend when she first arrived at Angel Grove High School.

Skull remembered that day, it had been a few months before she had met the power rangers and he and Bulk couldn't help but notice her. She walked up the steps of Angel Grove high and paused, watching as the two were about to play a prank on the dweebs.

"You might want to make sure that the water balloons are double knotted, yeah?" She remarked to them, motioning to the balloons they held in their hands. "Not only would it make it so that the balloons have a better chance of blowing up, but then you have less tail of the balloon to worry about when you actually throw it."

"Really?" Skull looked over his balloon and pulled at the tail, starting to knot it up. "Wow, that should make sure that—""But you might want to be carefully because if you pull too hard—"

Avalon suddenly broke off as the balloon burst in Skull's hands, causing water to shoot up like a geyser and strike him in the face and Bulk in the side, soaking the sleeve of his leather jacket. As laughter whirled around the bullies, some classmates having noticed their plight, the Australian teen chuckled a little. "I probably should've warned you about that."

"Yeah, you probably should have," Bulk muttered, a scowl on his face. He tossed his balloon to the ground, allowing it to harmlessly splash by his feet. "What do you know about it anyway?"

"That if you're trying to do a prank with water balloons"—she pointed above her head—"a greater distance is a better means of getting a wider target and it's easier for you to get away with it, mate." She then turned on her heel and disappeared inside the school.

It wasn't a little while later that the three had actually started to talk and had become good friends. But, as their luck would have it, it was only a matter of time until the power rangers ended up befriending her as well, bringing her in to their club. But she was different in the means that she still associated herself with Bulk and Skull, eating lunch with them every now and then and being quick to support them when needed.

It was now their turn to do the same.

"You mean those two that you were backing away from?" Skull asked. "That was them?"

"Yes! They—"Before Avalon got a chance to continue, her gaze shifted behind Bulk and Skull and she quickly shoved them aside. "Look out!" The three hit the ground and looked up just in time to see Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina send blasts of energy to the ground as Tengas flew around, knocking over the drink table that had been set up. "Tengas!"

"Oh great, and I thought the putties were bad enough," Bulk complained.

"C'mon!"

Skull got to his feet and pulled out his nightstick. He charged forward towards a Tenga and whacked it across the beak before turning to the second one closest to him and kicked at it. The Tenga screeched and brought its foot up, flapping its feathers as it hopped in a quick circle. Behind it, Skull watched in horror as Tenga flew forward and landed on a teen that barely managed to make it inside and started to peck at his back, taking out chunks of flesh as it did so.

Bulk followed Skull's lead and pulled out his nightstick and charged towards the Tengas as well, whacking a few that came upon his way, throwing the others to the ground with the self-defense tactics he and Skull had been taught while going through the academy, and hurried to help the teen that was still being attacked by the Tenga.

This left the orange ninja ranger for the three monsters. "Don't you guys have anything better to do than crash a party?" She called.

Scorpina turned her way and pointed her sword directly at Avalon's heart. "It's a crime that we weren't invited, so we just decided to crash. You have a problem with that?" She turned and shot a beam of energy out from her golden suit and towards the backside of the house. Avalon could hear glass break and the terrified, pain-filled screams of the party-goers that were still inside.

"I do!" Avalon did the motions to morph. "Ninja Ranger Power!" After morphing, she turned just as Bulk and Skull finished off the Tengas. "You guys go make sure that everyone inside is okay, we'll deal with these guys."

"Right. C'mon, Skull."

Skull nodded and followed Bulk into the house and directly moved to the right, where the house had just been attacked. He and Bulk stopped in their tracks when they spotted some of those that had been hit, lying on the ground. There was blood already pooling into the carpet, pieces of glass, like shrapnel from a missile, poking out of some bodies. Others were gashed wide open, screaming in pain as they tried to move out of harm's way.

Swallowing thickly, Skull took a glance at Bulk before moving in to help. _After all, it's what you asked for_.

* * *

Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Bailey all teleported into the backyard just as Avalon summoned her Tiger Token and used it to shield herself as Scorpina raced towards her. Tommy quickly handed out the assignments; he'd be going after Goldar, Rocky after Rito, and Billy, Kimberly, Aisha, Adam, and Bailey were to fend off the Tengas.

"Looks like you're starting to get bored up at the Lunar Palace!" Tommy said. He ducked as Goldar swung towards him and kicked the gold monster in the chest. "But you didn't need to crash the party to get our attention."

"Nothing says a good party like a gift!" Goldar replied. He waved his sword towards the white ranger, who ducked back out of the way before leaping high up into the trees. Goldar twisted around and waved his sword up at the white ranger. "Get down here and fight like a man!"

"Okay, but you asked for it!" Tommy grinned to himself, face hidden by his scarf and hood and leapt high into the air, spreading out his arms. Like a falcon, he swooped down towards the ground and struck Goldar in the chest, knocking him onto his back before landing in a soft kneel on the ground. "Ha ha! Can't beat the power of the falcon"

"Yes, but I can pluck its feathers!" Goldar shouted back and swung towards the white ninja ranger once more.

Around the backyard, the rangers continued to fight, Adam struggling to keep everything from swaying around him as he fought. His hits were wild and sloppy. Every time he managed to regain his balance, the world in his vision shifted and he fell to the ground. After using his frog spirit to rapidly strike a Tenga in the chest, he suddenly turned and lowered the hood and mask of his suit and puked onto the ground. He barely managed to get it out before he was grabbed by the arms and flung onto his back, falling lifelessly to the ground, his head lolling back and forth.

"Adam!" Aisha cried. She pressed her palms together and used the power of the ninjetti to swiftly move out of the way of the advancing Tengas, causing them to run into each other. She stood her ground and used her enhanced strength to clothesline a few Tengas that were coming her way and knocked them flat onto their backs before hurrying over to the fallen black ranger. "Adam, are you okay?"

Adam shook his head, trying to turn his head to the side. Everything felt so warm. He needed air…and the ground to stop spinning and swaying, and for his head to stop feeling like it was filled with water sloshing around, making him top heavy one way or another.

"Wolf Howler!" Billy's weapon appeared in his hands and he spun it around in his hands, it lashing out with a long, blue whip and crashed against the Tengas, knocking them over and creating a lasso each time he whipped it around, knocking the Tengas back away from him. He then used his enhanced speed via the power of the wolf to bring in some extra jabs.

"Finally I get my revenge on the puny orange ranger," Scorpina screeched as she charged towards Avalon. The orange ninja ranger brought her Tiger Token up and used it to shield herself from the blast that Scorpina sent her way. Then, backed up a few paces, she reached back and swung the orange shield forward like a boomerang and followed it at her top running speed. Scorpina was struck in the chest with the Tiger Token and she fell back on the ground just as Avalon jumped high into the air, flipped once, and landed down on Scorpina with a wicked blow of her heel, from her tiger spirit, and crashed onto her chest.

"Haven't you gotten the message the last time when your zords were destroyed?" Rito declared, swinging his sword around to attack Rocky, his swinging wild and maniacal as he went. "Unless you want to know what it feels like to be my personal piñatas I think you'll know that you won't win!" He caught Rocky off guard and swung his sword around, slashing the red ninja ranger up the side before following it up with a blast of red energy from his eyes. Rocky yelled in pain as the blast lifted him off his feet, the ground splattered with blood from the blow to his side.

"Rocky!" Kimberly called. She ducked out of the way of a swipe of a wing from a Tenga and hurried over to the red ranger. She stumbled along the way to reach him before falling to her knees at his side as exhaustion washed over her. She pushed it away, focusing on the red ranger. "Rocky, are you okay?"

"Yeah." His hand grasped at his chest, doing his best to press his hand against the burn that rested against his chest. "Yeah, I'm fine. But these guys are stronger than I remember."

"You can say that again," Bailey agreed. She jumped back out of the way as a Tenga headed her way then bent back and kicked it hard in the beak. She heard a loud cracking sound and watched as the Tenga squawked and brought its wings up to its beak, which she had broken. "Take that you bloody show pony!"

The Tengas quickly flapped their wings and flew up into the air, leaving Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito behind. The rangers all huddled together, helping Adam and Rocky off of the ground. Adam fell between Billy and Tommy his knees brushing against the ground as his feet couldn't keep his weight up, head lolling down.

"Now that we have them in our sights, there's nothing better to do but grow and squash them like the bugs they air!" Scorpina declared before she, Rito, and Goldar all grew to be a few stories tall, towering over the rangers with ease.

"Taste this!"

Rito shot a fiery beam of energy towards the rangers. Avalon quickly moved in the way. "Tiger Token Engage!" She threw her shield high into the air where it grew in size, shielding the rangers from the blast that was sent their way. A portion of it ricocheted off and struck the side of the house, blasting a hole in the side.

"Nice shot, bone breath," Goldar congratulated him before the three monsters started to walk towards the rangers, each step causing the ground to shake rapidly. The rangers quickly backed away from the converging monsters.

"What are we going to do?" Aisha asked. "With Adam drunk and Rocky…"

"We can do this guys," Tommy insisted. "We can't give up! We'll teleport Adam back to the Command Center and do this without the frog zord. Av's or Bay's zord can take its place in the Megazord."

"Right." Billy brought his wrist up to his mouth. "Zordon, we need you to teleport Adam back to the Command Center. Have Fred look after him. He needs some time to rest." He then watched as the black ranger disappeared in a bolt of black light, streaking up into the sky. "Now we have to deal with these three."

"You got it," Tommy agreed. "It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

"We need ninja zord power, now!" The rangers all cried.

"Orange Tiger, ninja zord, power up!"

"Purple Lion, ninja zord, power up!"

"Red Ape, ninja zord, power up!"

"Pink Crane, ninja zord, power up!"

"Blue Wolf, ninja zord, power up!"

"Yellow Bear, ninja zord, power up!"

"White Ninja, Falconzord, power up!"

The ninja Megazord came together and the rangers piloted the zord over towards the monsters as quickly as they could. Scorpina, Goldar, and Rito surrounded the ninja Megazord and started to attack them from all sides. The rangers put up a fight as strongly as they could, but found themselves easily overwhelmed, almost as quickly as they had when their thunderzords were destroyed within their initial fight with Ivan. And, much like when they had fought against the cat monster, once Scorpina, Rito, and Goldar had the upper hand, they disappeared.

"Fuck!" Avalon pounded her fist against the control panel. "Not again!"

"Why do they keep doing this?" Rocky asked. "Running away."

"It can't be good," Billy remarked. "There has to be something they're doing that we're missing. Something they're planning against us. I just wish I knew what it could be. More often than not, Rita's plans are so…simple and Zedd's are always so easy to figure out. They've been very meticulous with their secrecy as of late."

"Do you think they're just trying to tire us out?" Aisha questioned.

"Yeah, like with the Horoscope monsters?" Kimberly added.

"Who knows," Bailey agreed. "I'm with Billy, there's something they're trying to detract our attention away from that we don't know."

"Whatever it is, it's going to have to wait," Tommy remarked. "We need to give Bulk and Skull as much help as they can get, to get these guys to the hospital, and then we need to make sure that Adam's okay."

"Right."

* * *

"Ahhhh." Zedd beamed as he and Rita walked through the dense forest and into a clearing. "Just what I was looking for." He reached out an arm and put it around Rita's shoulders, hugging her to his side.

"Oh Zeddy, it's wonderful!" Rita wrapped her arms around Zedd and leaned into his side. "This is the best present you've ever gotten me!" She swooned. "I can't wait to see what they can do!"

"You and me both my dear. And now that we know Zordon's attention has been taken down on Earth, he can't track our whereabouts; he can't track us to Zordnia." He gazed lovingly upon the zords that rested, hidden amongst the foliage and trees of the dense planet. "These ancient zords…they're going to be the key to us finally destroying the power rangers."

* * *


	23. Come Clean aka Return of the Red Ranger

**Chapter 23**

_Come Clean_

_aka Return of the Red Ranger_

* * *

Tommy shifted in his seat, running a hand over his mouth before leaning to the side and placing a hand around Bailey's ear. "What do you think?" He whispered to her. "Should we try to sabotage or should we keep going with our own game?"

The purple ranger thought for a moment, taking in the pieces that were distributed around the board. On one hand, they already had one side of the Monopoly board completely set up with houses and hotels, but on the other hand it was fun seeing Avalon glare at the game board while Mr. Oliver sat glumly on her other side, frantically trying to figure out how much money they had combined to save themselves.

Finally, after making her decision, she leaned back into the white ninja ranger and put her hand by her mouth, saying, "I think we should continue to crush them. Put another hotel down."

"You got it." Tommy cleared his throat as he reached out for the baggie that held the houses and hotels. Avalon and Mr. Oliver groaned as the white ninja ranger placed a hotel down on the board, effectively making it so that the white and purple ninja rangers managed to take over two sides of the monopoly board with hotels and houses on their properties. Tommy grinned as he leaned back in his seat. "Whose turn is it to roll?"

"I fold," Avalon declared, turning her property cards over one by one.

Mr. Oliver laughed at the orange ninja ranger as he started to gather his stacks of money together. "You can't 'fold' in Monopoly. You go bankrupt."

"I think we went bankrupt five turns ago," Avalon pointed out. "At this point, I'm wondering how our mortgage has been able to be stretched this far." She turned back to her sister and future brother. "At this rate we couldn't even pay back our bank loans."

Mrs. Oliver laughed from the armchair she had been resting in, watching the four play the board game. From what she had seen, there was no way her husband and her future daughter were going to win the game. Not only had Tommy and Bailey quickly pulled out in the lead by buying nearly every property they landed on, but it didn't help that with the house rule of free parking, they continued to land on that as well. She was sure they had to have been cheating in some way, or else apart from being nearly as smart as Billy; Bailey had a knack for property leasing.

"I think you lost before the game even started," she remarked.

"Of course they did," Tommy agreed. "Nothing can beat us!" He grabbed onto Bailey and lifted her up into his arms, alternatively lifting her up and lowering her down, causing Bailey to shriek in surprise before falling into loud giggles.

Avalon smiled as she pulled herself up onto the couch next to Tommy and reached out, starting to tickle her on the stomach, making her laugh and squirm even harder. Mr. Oliver laughed at the spectacle and went over to the desk that sat in the corner of the living room. He opened the drawer and pulled out a camera. Turning around, he quickly took a picture of the three rangers before placing the camera back in the desk drawer and going over to the opposing armchair and sat down.

"I suppose all of this noise is something we're going to have to get used to," he remarked as the laughter died down. "When you move in, that is." He paused. "If you decide to move in." Avalon exchanged a glance with Bailey, and the two looked back over at the Olivers. "I understand that you two have moved around a lot and you've really found a place to live with the Cranstons. As well as in light of what's happened recently, it may be even harder to leave. But once the adoption goes through, after the Social Services Worker comes by to see that our place is fit for you o to move in, it's really up to you to decide."

"Even if there's a time where you split your time from the Cranston house to here," Mrs. Oliver quickly added, sensing their discomfort. "We'll support whatever decision you make. The last thing we want to do is to push you into something you're not one hundred percent sure of."

Avalon chewed her lower lip as she tilted her head to the side. "Will you give us some more time to think about it? Like you said, it really is a big decision to make and…there are some other things that we have to think about."

"Of course," Mr. Oliver readily agreed. He motioned towards his wife, and she smiled before getting up. "While you think, why don't we get some dessert, alright?" Tommy waited until his parents were out of the room before turning to address the orange ninja ranger, who raised an eyebrow when she noticed his expression of concern.

She spoke before he got a chance to. "Before you ask, no, this has nothing to do with Billy and no this has nothing to do with not wanting to have to deal with the more than likely probability of unclogging your hair from the drain." Tommy rolled his eyes as she continued, lowering her voice. "It has to do with me." She ran a hand through her hair. "If Summer and Skye are back, why would I want them to put you and your parents in danger by moving here?"

"If they really are back, they're going to know where you are, regardless," Tommy reminded her. He shifted Bailey in his arms so that she was now sitting on his lap. "Moving isn't going to help that. They're going to try and find you."

"And that's what I'm hoping to avoid."

"So you want to be a sitting duck?"

Bailey spoke up, defending her sister. "I think she means she doesn't want to move for the same reason she didn't tell the rest of you guys that she had visited Chase in jail."

Avalon nodded and turned away, letting out a quiet breath. That conversation hadn't gone over very well after the party. The rangers had powered down after fighting off the Tengas, Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito and had been on their way back home when Lt. Stone stopped them with Bulk and Skull, asking if she really had seen Summer and Skye at the party.

Then the orange ninja ranger had no choice but to explain everything that had been happening, from the letters that she had gotten from Chase, to being chased around Angel Grove by Summer and Skye, to seeing Chase in jail, to having been threatened at the party. And as she thought they would, the others were mad. However, she was surprised as they were more angry at the fact she _hadn't_ told them rather than what they were being told. But at the same time, it proved to her that they truly were her friends and they cared about her and her safety more than she originally thought. And that alone continuously made her worry about the choices she had made.

She opted not to tell them only because she was so worried about what would happen if the Vipers tried to go after them as they had done with Jason and Kimberly before. It was funny, really. When she first met the rangers she tried so hard to not care about what they were doing, solely focusing on herself and Bailey and trying to create a better life for them. Now that they had it, she cared about her friends more than anything else and didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire due to her decisions once more.

"That's crazy," Tommy said. He shook his head briefly as he thought about it.

Was it really?

He probably would've done the same thing if it had happened to him. And in many ways, he was sure that he would've fallen into the wrong crowd if it weren't for his having gotten into martial arts. Before he and his parents moved, they didn't live in a particularly good area and his friends around him were constantly talking about wanting to protect themselves and their family and the only way they knew how was to join the gangs and bad crowds that ran rampant throughout the neighborhoods.

But Tommy had avoided all of that by working hard on his mind, body, and soul, knowing there was more to life for him than constantly putting himself and his family in danger. But if he had gone down that path, had become a ranger and was still trying to deal with the aftermath day after day, he probably would do everything he could to keep his friends from becoming targets as well and just deal with it himself.

"What I mean is that we're a team and if there's anything that one of us is going through, we're all going through it," Tommy continued. "And we're going to help each other the best we can. Keeping secrets like this…it's not going to do anything but push us away and how's that going to help when we're in battle?"

Avalon twisted her mouth to the side then made a slight whining sound. Sitting up straight, she regarded Tommy with a raised eyebrow. "I guess once everything is finalized I'm going to have to deal with a lot of those 'older brother talks' aren't I? And you're not even that much older than me, just a couple months."

"Yeah, but I have a feeling you're going to be more trouble for me than Bailey is," Tommy reminded her. Bailey grinned and stuck her tongue out at her sister seconds before screaming, trying to lean out of the way as Avalon leapt onto her sister to start beating her with a couch pillow. Tommy pulled back out of the way before disengaging himself from the fight that was happening on top of him and moved to the far end of the couch. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to this, too."

As he watched his friends continue to play fight with each other, Tommy's words echoed in his head. The rangers were a team and they really did have to think about each other and how they would help each other when the time came. No questions asked. But what did that mean when he wasn't even sure if there was anything wrong? Every now and then he felt nothing but guilt over having destroyed the Thunderzords, but other times he went about his day with no problems what so ever, continuing to practice his martial arts, hanging out with his friends, doing his homework—when he remembered—hung out with Kimberly, and did his ranger duties when the time up. Was he supposed to bring it up when most of the time it wasn't anything he worried about?

"You guys better knock it off or else your added appetites are going to eat us out of house and home," Mrs. Oliver joked as she and her husband walked back into the living room, carrying bowls of ice cream. "And I thought Tommy's appetite was bad."

"Nothing is worse than Rocky's," Bailey remarked, distancing herself from her sister as far as she could. She reached out and took the bowl that was handed to her, licking her lips before bringing a spoonful of ice cream up to her mouth. "I think he's doing his best to prove to run Ernie out of business."

"Or to become a professional taste tester," Avalon added. She then paused for a moment. "If he even tastes any of it at all."

Tommy laughed and took his bowl of ice cream as well. "Well, your cooking is worth it, Mom. Take it as a compliment that I want to eat it so much." He ate a quick bite of ice cream and turned back to Avalon and Bailey. "So, what do you say? Do you think you'll want to move in?"

The orange and purple ninja rangers both exchanged a glance once more. "I think we can work something out," Bailey finally replied. "We like living with the Cranstons too, so maybe if we could split our time between the homes or something?" She paused. "And like you said before, in light of recent events, I wouldn't feel good leaving them so soon."

"We understand completely," Mr. Oliver agreed. He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face as he rubbed his hands over the knees of his slacks. "Now all we have to do is wait for everything to be finalized."

"So that means that we still have time to change our minds?" Avalon joked.

Tommy gave her a funny look. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I just realized that being your sister means that I'd have to spend even more time than I already do with Kim."

Laughing, Tommy grabbed a pillow and whacked Avalon in the face with it.

* * *

Jason smiled as he followed his parents into his home, taking in the familiarity of the layout. Everything was exactly as he had remembered it. The living room was arranged the same way, the kitchen went untouched, and the den was tidy. The only thing that shown anyone came by the house was the day's mail left on the front porch as their neighbors hadn't picked it up that day. He made a mental note to go over and ask for it back after he and his parents had everything unpacked. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was unpack his things and go surprise his friends.

"I'm going to take my stuff to my room," Jason said to his father as he picked up his bag.

His communicator rubbed against it, making a loud scratching sound. The former red ranger looked down at the metal band that was around his wrist and a pang of sadness washed over him that hurt almost as much as hearing the Tyrannosaurs zord crying out for him as it was destroyed. What did it mean for being a ranger now? His powers had been copied; did that mean he didn't have a chance to morph anymore? _I hope it at least still gets me into the Command Center,_ he thought, going up to his room. Pushing the door open he stepped inside and looked around, immediately feeling he was even more at home.

It was exactly as he had left it, everything was as he had left it. Dropping his bags to the ground, Jason rolled onto his bed and reveled in the feeling of the soft mattress that encompassed his body weight like a cloud, unlike that mattress he had slept on when he was staying with his Aunt and Uncle. Not that he really had anything to complain about, seeing that his uncle was getting better, improving his condition from his drug overdose…that had really shown him how close he had been to falling down a path that would've spelled big trouble for himself. Steroids weren't really as bad as what he had been into, but it was a gateway to a life he wouldn't want to live.

Thinking about it now, he didn't really understand why he allowed himself to get so worked up over it. So he lost a fight; he had been jumped by numerous people at one time. It wasn't like he hadn't lost a fight before while rangering and while in a martial arts competition. But the past was the past and the only thing he needed to focus on was the present.

And at the present, he wanted to see his friends.

Stretching his arms over his head, Jason sat up and looked at the photos he had lined up on his walls. Pictures of him, Kimberly, Trini, Zack, and Billy since they had been young, a picture of the five on their first day of high school, a picture shortly after they had become rangers, a picture of them and Tommy shortly after he had turned good, and then a few with Avalon and Bailey in them. Giving up his duties had been the most difficult decision he had ever made and despite being weary of Rocky's taking over his position as the young man seemed to be more interested in how 'cool' everything was as opposed to taking it seriously, it was the move he knew he had to make. Jason had always been one that knew where his responsibilities lied and going to see his uncle, to be there for him, was one of them.

Moving quickly, he unpacked his clothes and made sure everything was set up for him to go back to school the next day then clambering down the stairs. His quick footsteps gave away his excitement as he skipped the last few steps, jumping straight to the bottom, startling his mother who was walking by with an arm-full of laundry.

"Jason!" Marissa scolded as she dropped the basket to the ground. Reaching up, she placed a hand on her chest. "I've asked you a million times not to do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack." She kneeled down and started to pick up the fallen clothes and Jason moved to help her.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I was just coming to tell you that I'm headed off to the Youth Center to go see the guys," Jason explained. He quickly grabbed the clothes and placed them back into the basket, flashing his mother a bright smile. "I guess I'm a little excited to see them."

"How do you know they're even there?" Marissa pointed out as she stood up. "They could be in the park or at the beach or at school…"

"For one, Mom, its Sunday," Jason reminded her. "And for another, we're _always_ at the Youth Center, so I think it would be a good bet to say they're at the Ernie's. May I go?" He looked up as he felt a hand land on his head and his hair get ruffled before turning to see his father standing next to him.

"I don't think I've seen him like this since we went to Disney Land when he was eight," Caine said with a laugh. "I can't imagine what it would be that'd get him this riled up."

"I'm going to the Youth Center!" Jason started to back towards the door, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb as he went. "I mean, if you guys don't need my help unpacking and getting things cleaned and everything." His hand was already on the doorknob, slowly starting to turn it open. Caine and Marissa laughed and waved him on and Jason lifted his hand in a quick wave before going out into the garage. He opened the door and got into his car, pulling back quickly, then drove to the Youth Center.

As he arrived, he immediately spotted Kimberly's pink convertible in a spot as well as Billy's blue truck in another. He pulled in and parked the car before starting inside, only having to back up when the door opened and Ernie walked out the front door, holding onto a large crate of what appeared to be rotting fruits and vegetables.

"Yo, Ernie, do you need some help?" Jason called, walking over.

Ernie glanced over at him and shook his head. "No, Jason, I got it." He then paused and looked at the former ranger once more before his face nearly split in half with his grin. "Jason! What are you doing here, man?" He dropped the box of food and reached over, giving his friend a hearty hug that lifted him off his feet. "Aren't you supposed to be visiting your uncle?"

"We were," Jason replied, laughing as he was bounced up and down. "But things have gotten better for him; he's doing very well, so we decided to come back here." Once he was back on his feet, Jason reached out and placed his hand on Ernie's shoulder, smiling just as brightly. "And I wanted this to be a surprise!"

"Well, I'm surprised all right," Ernie agreed. "Here I am, just throwing out some of my expired fruits and vegetables and I bump into you! Literally!"

"Yeah…" Jason started to inspect his black t-shirt and jeans. "You…you didn't get any of that on me did you?" He asked. Ernie then laughed again, reaching down to pick up the boxes once more. "Nah, man, you're good. This stuff hasn't gone that bad, it hasn't started leaking yet." Now Jason's face screwed up in disgust and Ernie laughed once more, this time waving his arm towards the door to the youth center. "Well go on inside, I'm sure you're excited to see your friends again. They're definitely going to be surprised to see you."

"Thanks, Ernie. See you later."

Jason pumped the door to the Youth Center and followed the scent of fresh smoothies, before stepping into the Youth Center. As he gazed around, he spotted Tommy, Rocky, and Adam practicing their martial arts on the practice mats in the corner, Avalon, Aisha, and Kimberly were standing by a few pieces of gymnastics equipment, listening to the orange ranger as she explained something to them, and Billy, Bailey, and Fred were sitting at a nearby table, doing some sort of work. Jason went over to the practice mats and watched as Tommy, Rocky, and Adam sparred where the red and black rangers were teaming up against the white ranger in a tag-team sort of match. Tommy effortlessly fought back against the two, shifting his attention back and for between the rangers as they hurried back and forth across the mats.

Jason waited, watching as the guys continued to practice, impressed. They certainly had been working hard in their technique. They might even give him a run for his money once they started working out again. He caught Adam's eye as the black ranger did a spinning kick and motioned him to stay quiet. Adam nodded slightly and then turned out of the way, giving Jason the opportunity to slide into his place. Rocky spotted Jason over Tommy's shoulder then grinned as he backed away from the white ranger, giving him the chance to turn around.

Tommy had been so into his fighting that for the first few seconds he was confused as to how Adam's fighting style had changed so quickly—and to a style that was so familiar—and it wasn't until the two reacted to a moment and both did a spinning kick, striking each other on the heel that he realized who it was. "Whoa!" Tommy regained his balance and turned to his best friend with open arms. "Jason, I can't believe you're here, man!"

"I can't believe it either," Jason agreed. He hugged Tommy tightly. "But when Mom asked if I wanted to go to school there or come home. So I decided to come home." He turned Rocky and Adam, whom he didn't know as well, and held out his hand, shaking theirs firmly as they placed them into it. "I'm sure I missed out on a lot of stuff."

"You have no idea, man," Rocky agreed. "A lot has been going on."

"Especially with Rita and Zedd," Adam agreed. "They got overthrown once, but this intergalactic being named Ivan Ooze."

"Ivan Ooze?" Jason repeated. His face screwed up in amusement. "That doesn't sound like the sort of monster I want to go against."

"You'd win that bet." Rocky chewed his lower lip, exchanging a glance with his friends. "He was a lot stronger than we thought he would be. A lot. Actually, he and Goldar and Scorpina managed to destroy our zords and the power that was attached to it. The Thunderzords are gone."

"Ohhh." Jason slowly nodded. "So that's what I heard." At the confused glances, he explained. "I guess when what was happening, happened, I felt something. Well, heard something is more like it. I heard the sound of the Tyrannosaurs Rex crying. Like, it was calling for me, crying in pain. But, at the same time, felt that he wasn't particularly scared or hurt in anyway. But that it knew that it's time was over and he had done everything he could to help."

"So I guess our connection with our zords was stronger than we thought," Adam remarked. His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "And with our animal spirits as well."

"Animal spirits?" Jason repeated.

"It's a long story," Tommy reassured him. "We'll tell you all about it. But I think the rest of the guys would want to see you, too." He pointed over towards the gymnastics equipment where Avalon was demonstrating a sort of complicated move where she ran for the balance beam. But instead of leaping up onto it, she brought her hands down and placed them on top of the beam and used the leverage to push herself forward. When she landed on the ground behind it, she immediately fell into a somersault and popped back up to her feet.

Jason walked over to the girls just as they started to turn to go to the table that Billy, Bailey, and Fred were sitting at. "You make parkour look so easy, Av," Aisha said to the orange ranger. "I think I'd break a break something if I ever tried."

"It's kind of like gymnastics in a way, but instead of doing fancy flips and tricks you're just trying to get from point A to point B even faster." Avalon reached over and grabbed onto the towel that sat on the steps behind her. "I just did it for fun back home, but it's saved my butt when having to fight."

"And you say _I'm_ crazy for wanting to do gymnastics," Kimberly said with a roll of her eyes. She started to turn just as Jason reached out and poked her in the sides, causing her to jump and let out a loud scream of surprise that attracted the attention of those in the Juice Bar. Whirling around, the pink ranger's eyes widened as big as her mouth, which was covered by her hands at her outburst, when she spotted Jason. Then she reached out and punched Jason on the shoulder. "Jason Scott, don't do that!"

"Sorry, Kim, I couldn't resist."

Then Kimberly squealed and reached her arms up, wrapping them around Jason's shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly, lifting her up off the floor. "Jason! It's so good to see you! I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Kim," Jason agreed. "Especially that loud shriek whenever I do that. I seem to remember the week of Halloween you seemed to be screaming more than anyone else."

"Yeah, because you and Zack kept hiding in lockers and jumping out at me." Kimberly pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It wasn't funny then, either." Jason laughed again then turned to the orange ranger, who waited for her turn to greet the former red.

"Hey Rudolph, good to see that you didn't actually let all of your muscles go to your head," she teased him.

"You're never going to get tired of that nickname are you?"

"Never."

Jason laughed. "Hey Avie."

"Hey, Jay." Avalon grinned before giving him a big, warm hug. "When'd you get back?" She tucked her hair behind her ear as she took a step back, tilting her head to see him clearly. "More importantly, why didn't you tell us? Pinkerbell would've thrown a party."

He smiled. "And that's the reason why." His statement caused Kimberly to pout again. Though it instantly disappeared once Tommy put his arm around her shoulders. "I wanted it to be a surprise, and as it was, it's a bit of a last minute decision. Everything with my uncle is going better than expected so we came home earlier than we thought we would." He then greeted Aisha before turning towards Fred, Bailey, and Billy as they joined the group as well. "Billy, it's good to see you, man!" Jason hugged his friend then backed up, studying Billy's face. "If you can see _me_ , I mean."

The blue ninja ranger laughed. "I can see you just fine, I got contacts."

"After all of those years Zack and I had been trying to tell you to get them?"

"Yes, well, I could see your point in the means of sports, but not when it came to Zack's point about attracting more girls." He shrugged as the group laughed and then moved aside so that Bailey could greet the red ranger as well. "I'm sure there's a lot that we have to get caught up on, why don't we sit down and order a bunch of smoothies." He then gestured towards himself. "It's on me."

"I'll help you with them," Aisha offered.

"None for me, please," Kimberly called as they started away. "I had a big lunch; I'm still kind of full." Aisha nodded to confirm she heard Kimberly's request and Kimberly avoided Adam's gaze as the rangers moved to sit at the table.

"So, they were telling me there's a lot that's happened with your guys' powers and stuff," Jason said.

"You have no idea," Fred agreed. "There's been so much going on. For a while there it looked like evil really was going to take over Angel Grove."

"That'll never happen," Jason said firmly. His gaze moved to each face that sat around the table. "As long as you guys have trust in yourselves and in the power, then the Power Rangers are never going to be defeated."

"That's my man!" Tommy agreed and gave Jason a high-five. "If it wasn't for this guy by my side, I don't think I could've been a good leader." Jason smiled back, albeit modestly. He didn't believe that. As soon as the reform green ranger joined their team, he knew something good had happened to them. If anyone besides him was to be the leader, it was going to be Tommy.

"So where do we want to start?" Kimberly asked, clasping her hands together. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I guess since you left again, right after the funeral."

"Sounds good," Jason agreed.

Billy and Aisha arrived back at the table with armfuls of smoothies. They placed the cups on the table and had sat down just in time to watch Rocky reached out and scoop all of the cups into his area of the table. The red ranger looked up at the sudden silence and he gave a sheepish smile in return. "Oh," he joked. "Did you want some, too?"

Jason laughed along with the rangers as the drinks were passed out and they started the story that had given them their ninjetti powers, to which he listened to with rapt attention.

It was like he never left.


	24. Green With Guilt

**Chapter 24**

_Green With Guilt_

* * *

Bailey sighed as she sat down on the front steps of Angel Grove Middle School, gently scratching the ground with a stick she found on the sidewalk. She glanced up every now and then as her classmates and other grades streamed out of the school, talking and laughing with their friends. She could hear snippets of their conversations; what plans they had for the weekend, who was sleeping over and the other's house, who was going to what concert, what movie they were planning to see.

Everything she wasn't doing. And as the days went on, she wondered about it more and more. When she first attended Angel Grove Middle School she had been shy, she could admit that. But even then, as the days went on, she still found that she hadn't been making a lot of friends or connecting with the students in her class. They didn't particularly like how smart she was at the beginning, she could hear the giggles and whispers behind her back from the girls as she said something that was incredibly intellectual and the odd looks and eye rolls from the boys. And still, she had managed to make a friend in Fred.

And that friendship was something that she really did need, though at first she was hesitant about it. How could you be friends with someone when you couldn't tell them a lot about yourself other than where you were originally from and why you transferred to the school at such an odd time? Nevertheless, he persisted in the friendship, even showing that he enjoyed science and math and excelled at it as much as she did, though he still seemed to know who he was and how he fit in. He went from person to person in the class, able to talk to each and every one of them and she still sat on the sidelines, engrossed in her work. Then as she found out that her sister was a power ranger and she started to work in the Command Center, everything had started to change for her.

She pulled herself further away from her classmates and started to keep even more secrets from Fred, then she became a ranger and it had started to get harder and harder. Nevertheless, she managed to keep it a secret and keep up his friendship with him. But now that he knew what she was, what was going on, and how everything with being a ranger and working at the Command Center looked like, she couldn't help but wonder if it was hurting or helping their friendship. Not only did she have to constantly leave when they were hanging out, or break plans because of some sort of monster fight, a meeting they needed to have in the Command Center, or just because of her own school work, but now she wondered if she was missing out on a lot of other things.

Middle School was the year you were supposed to figure out who your friends were and the sort of person you wanted to be. Now that she thought about it, she had changed since staying in Angel Grove and becoming a ranger. Like Billy, she didn't use much of her technical jargon anymore, and…she had a boyfriend, something she didn't think she'd ever have while back in Australia, she was so busy with her work.

Now that and the potential of being a normal teenager were being threatened, and hadn't known she wanted it in the first place.

"Hey Goober." The purple ninja ranger looked up as her sister walked over to her, hands on the straps of her backpack. Bailey smiled and stood up as well, falling into step with her sister as they walked back home. "How was school today? Where's Fred?"

"He and his Dad went camping for the weekend, he left after lunch," Bailey explained. She then addressed the first question that was asked of her, with a shrug. "It was alright, I guess. Not too much going on, just a bunch of schooling and test and papers and stuff." She tilted her head to the side, pushing her glasses up her nose. "It's all the same thing all the time."

Avalon laughed. "Uh, excuse me, but if I'm not mistaken, that used to be something you were really into. Like Billy, you used to sit yourself in your room or at the library, studying as much as you could." She studied her sister. "Is there something bothering you? The High-Flyers in there aren't doing anything are they?"

Bailey shook her head. As a matter of fact she hadn't thought about the High-Flyers in a long time. They weren't as…forthcoming as the Vipers were and as it was, the Vipers were down to only a few people left, while the High-Flyers seemed to grow strength in numbers but kept to themselves all the same.

"No, they haven't done anything. And even if they did, you'd be the first to know." There was a slight edge to her tone that the orange ninja ranger noticed, causing her to turn to the side and grab onto her sister's shoulder.

"You know the only reason I make decisions that…may not be the same ones that everyone else will make, is because I want to protect you, right?" She asked. "And everyone else around me."

"Oh, I thought it was just because you were stubborn, which is something that you got from Dad, by the way."

"Yes, it's also because I'm stubborn," she added. "But my point still stands." She studied her sister for a long moment before starting to walk once more. "C'mon Goober, out with it. What's going on?"

Bailey bobbed her head back and forth. "Um, I don't know, really," she admitted. "I'm kind of…frustrated. About lot of things, yeah? I mean, Fred recently…Fred said something that sort of confused me. I mean, he said he was my boyfriend but I'm not really sure."

"How are you not sure, he either is or isn't."

"Aren't I supposed to be asked?"

"Is this the fifties? Are we going to a sock-hop later, too?" Avalon pushed her hair back from her face. "He really does like you, Bay. Especially considering how patient he is with the whole you being a ranger thing. I didn't think it'd be easy, especially considering he's not and he can't do anything but wait for you to get back."

"Or hang out with other people," Bailey said quietly. She took a deep breath and brushed her hair back out of her face. "Sometimes…I wonder what I'm missing out on. All of my classmates are going to parties and to the movies, and sleeping over at each other's houses and I don't have any friends other than Fred. And he's great, but…being a ranger takes up so much of my time, I don't even know how to just hang out with him. And now that this whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing came up, I really want to see what that's like, but I don't want him to get hurt or captured or…used against me."

Now Avalon gave her an amused smile. "And to think your life was a hundred times easier when you had a crush on Billy."

"Okay, we're not talking about that!" Bailey's face turned red as she thought about her first few months knowing the older teenagers. She had fallen for Billy, but it had been a simple, stupid crush. _Probably spurned on by the fact that I liked his attention,_ she admitted. "That was a long time ago and its ancient history that will never rear its ugly head again." She crossed her arms as they stopped at a corner, waiting for the light to change before they could continue again. "Though it worked out well for you. He's a lot better than Chase."

"You got that right."

Bailey smiled and lowered her head. And things had been easier for them, and Tommy and Kim, and Rocky and Aisha if that ever worked out, though the red ranger was a bit of a flirt if not a bit oblivious. But then there was Rocky, who had fallen into the same…trap that Bailey had. He had fallen for a girl that wasn't a ranger, that didn't know what was going on with him, a girl that eventually ended up being used by Rita and Zedd for their own personal gain. That, the painful transformation to her other form of Scorpina, and the trauma that came from it all the while dealing with Ivan caused her to leave Angel Grove as quickly as possible, breaking Adam's heart as well.

She could see that he was still reeling from it, but what did that mean for her and Fred if things managed to get that far. Would her ranger duties finally break them apart or would it be the fact that they were both leading different lives that would do so?

Being a ranger was still as cool as she thought it'd be, but maybe it took a lot more responsibility than she originally thought. "If my powers could've gone to anyone, then why did it go to me?"

"I guess we'll never know, Bay," Avalon said as they reached the house. She looked into her bag, taking out the house key as the two rangers strolled up the drive. Bailey glanced over at the driveway and noticed that it was empty apart from Billy's truck. "The one thing I do know is that you're a very strong person. And if you can me it through fighting off Ivan without your powers, then you'll make it through that, too."

Bailey smiled up at her sister as she unlocked the door and the two went inside. "Thanks Booger," Bailey said, wrapping her arms around her sister and giving her a tight hug. "That really helped a lot." Avalon smiled and ruffled her sister's hair before kissing the top of her head.

She watched as the purple ranger took her backpack and headed up the stairs, rushing by Billy as he came down, a large sports bag slung over his shoulder. Avalon glanced at him as she walked into the kitchen, looking over the mail. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "Don't you have football practice?"

"I do," Billy agreed. He motioned to the bag that bounced at his side. "But I forgot my by here so Ms. Appleby let met leave last period study hall a bit early so I could get it." He looked at his watch before sitting down on a stool by the counter and lifted his foot to tie his shoes. "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to play in the game tomorrow." He glanced at her. "Are you headed off to work?"

"Yeah, in a few minutes," Avalon agreed. "I needed to get my work uniform and to make sure Bay got back alright." She rested her arms on the counter as she gazed at the blue ranger. "We saw that David's truck wasn't in the driveway."

"Yeah, he went off to work this morning." Billy finished tying his shoes and leaned back against the back-rest on the bar stool. "He left a little bit before we did."

"That's good!" Avalon smiled. "The time back at work could really do him some good. And I'm sure the university is doing their best to make sure things are going well for him, yeah?" When she didn't get a response she looked at Billy, who was staring off into space, his mouth covered by the hand he rested against. "Smurf?" The orange ninja ranger waved a hand in front of her boyfriend's face. "Smurf? Billy?" She then snapped her fingers and he blinked, turning to her.

For a second he looked at her in silence then he seemed to recognize she was talking to him for he sat up straight, clasping his hands between his knees. "What?" He asked.

Crossing her arms, the orange ranger tilted her head to the side. "What are you doing after the football game tomorrow?"

Billy's face screwed up in confusion. "Uh…taking a shower?" Avalon smiled a little and he continued with. "Or do you mean specifically?" He thought about it for a moment, shaking his head. "Probably to get something to eat at the Youth Center and then come back here to get some work done."

"No you're not," Avalon said matter-of-factly. She walked around the counter and over to Billy, leaning against his knees. "Because after the game tomorrow, I'm taking you out somewhere."

Billy gave an amused laugh as his eyebrows rose. "Are you asking me or telling you."

"Oh, I'm telling you." Avalon nodded, smirking. "You really don't have a choice in the matter because I'm taking you out on a date whether you like it or not. And you're going to have a good time." She brought her hands up and gently rested them on Billy's cheeks. "And you're going to relax."

Now Billy smiled. "Yes ma'am." He then added jokingly, "so what time are you going to pick me up? I need to know so I can figure out what to wear."

"It doesn't matter, yeah? I know where you live."

The two laughed and Avalon leaned in and gave him a kiss. Billy responded eagerly, leaning back into her. He brought his hands up and gently rested them on her hips as the orange ranger tilted her head to the side and kissed him again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let out a quiet sigh, kissing him again, this time a softer kiss. And the two continued to kiss, pushing everything else away, only focusing on each other.

Nothing else mattered in that moment, not ranger duties, not Avalon's job, not Billy's football practice, anything that would ruin the single moment of rest. Still, the kiss had to end and the blue ninja ranger was the one to pull back, resting his forehead against Avalon's. Bringing up his wrist, he looked at his watch before letting out a quiet sigh, leaning back.

"I have to get to practice," he said to her.

Avalon gave a playful pout. "You don't want to stay with me a little while longer?"

"Given the health benefits that kissing does exude on the body, I would really like to say 'yes'," Billy admitted. "But then again, those benefits will do nothing for me considering the coach'll kill me if I'm late." Nodding, Avalon backed up so that Billy could get off the stool. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug. "I'll see you later."

"Hoo roo," Avalon agreed. "Go kick the ball down the field, get a field goal."

Billy smiled as he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder once more. "I'm a running back."

"Whatever."

* * *

Kimberly gathered her hair up in a ponytail as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Was it just her or did her cheekbones look to be a little more defined? Turning her head this way and that, the pink ninja ranger checked her mirror image for a few more seconds before dropping her hair back behind her shoulders once more. Maybe that would look better. Her eyes trailed over to the toilet and she took a deep breath, reaching out and lowering the lid. She had left it open after her early morning routine; waking up at five, doing a series of push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, jumping jacks, planks, jumping rope, and going for a run. When she didn't think she had done enough, she had gone back to the house, quietly crept up to her bathroom and threw up in the toilet.

It had gotten so easy as of late. She usually didn't have to do much other than think about throwing up before her body did it for her. But she could tell the difference she was making; her gymnastics was stronger than ever, she was getting compliments on her body left and right, and the muscles she had been making was obvious now. She couldn't move her arms without the skin rippling with the movement of her muscles underneath.

Now if only she didn't get so lightheaded and weak when fighting off the Tengas and Goldar so often. She knew it was just the enhanced power that she was getting used to, the energy of Power Coin being placed along with her own human energy. Zordon had explained that before, even Billy and Bailey had done their best to explain it even further, to where it made sense. But they had their powers since the summer, shouldn't it have gotten easier by then?

Hearing a light screeching sound, Kimberly turned her head and watched as a miniature version of the crane zord flew into the bathroom, settling itself on the counter. It cocked its head to the side as she watched Kimberly turn back to the mirror and finish getting ready by putting on her makeup.

"I know you don't really know what this is," she said to the crane zord. With a laugh, she picked up a bottle of nail polish and gestured towards the shiny feet of the zord. "But I think the color would go great with your circuits, don't you think?"

The crane zord squeaked, flapping its wings then flew up and landed on Kimberly's shoulder, looking in the mirror. It wiggled its feet, as if studying them, before making a grinding sound. The pink ranger giggled.

"I'll take that as a maybe." She finished putting on her makeup and made sure that her outfit was okay. Her hair fell in waves along the shoulders of the jean jacket that covered Tommy's extra football jersey and a jean skirt with brown boots. It was one of the few times she didn't have much pink in her outfit, other than the scrunchie that pulled her hair back into a half-up half down look, and the pink eye shadow. But it was worth it to be able to see her boyfriend and their friends play in a game that Saturday morning.

They hadn't been able to do it for a while, hopefully Rita and Zedd would finally give them a day off. As Kimberly put on the finishing touches of her makeup, making sure that the mascara didn't clump in her eyelashes, she could hear her mother calling for her.

"Yes, Mom?" Kimberly called back. She hurried out of the bathroom, scooping up her purse and cell phone as she went before rushing down the stairs. "What's up?" She stood at the bottom of her stairs, looking over at her mother as she closed the front door, leaving it open a crack. "Jason's here to pick you up," she explained. "He just arrived."

"Oh great!" Kimberly beamed and gave her mother a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be back later, Mom. Maybe go to the Youth Center or a movie or something after the game. But Tommy'll drive me back then, I guess. Or maybe Jason." She started to back towards the door. "I'll see you later."

"Kim, hold on a second," Ms. Hart said to her daughter.

The pink ranger paused at the front door, chewing her lower lip as she waited to hear what her mother had to say. Did it have to do with Tommy? She thought things were better with that, though every now and then she wasn't totally forthcoming about her whereabouts when going out with Tommy. In some instances she would tell her mother she was going out with Aisha and then told the yellow ranger to cover for her before she went out with the white ranger.

She knew it was only a matter of time until her mother figured it out, but did she have to confront her with it right now? Even the way her mother's eyes were looking her up and down caused a bead of sweat to appear on her forehead.

 _Do Mothers truly know everything their kids were up to just by one look?_ Kim did her best to appear innocent, hearing the sound of the car horn honking outside. Kimberly mimed opening the door, but her mother still didn't budge.

"There's something different about you," Mrs. Hart murmured, as if she couldn't put her finger on it.

 _Apparently they can,_ Kimberly swallowed thickly. "Really?" She asked. "I didn't think there was anything…nothing _that_ different. I mean, I've been taking care of my skin, my hair has grown a little bit—"

"You've lost some weight haven't you?" Mrs. Hart asked, causing the pink ranger to let out a sigh of relief. "You must be working really hard with your gymnastics." This time, however, the pink ranger's mother gave her a worrying glance. "Maybe a little too hard. You don't have to work out every day, Kim. You're an amazing gymnast, and you're already so petite, you don't need to lose any more weight. I'm starting to worry about you, Kim. You're going out every morning to run and who knows what else kind of workout routine you have."

The pink ranger released a nervous laugh. "It's not that much, mom, just a few pounds. Mostly water weight. I'm gaining a lot of muscle too." She pointed over her shoulder. "Speaking of muscle, I have to go watch the guys play football, so I need to go." She blew her mother a kiss, but was stopped once more as her mother gave one last call of her name. "Yes?"

"You're glowing," Mrs. Hart replied before turning on her heel and walking out of the foyer.

Kimberly's eyebrows furrowed together before she slid out the front door, locked it behind her, and hurried down the front steps and over to Jason's car. She opened the passenger door and practically flung herself inside, causing her friend to laugh as he pulled away from the curb.

"What's the matter, Kim, couldn't figure out what to wear this morning?" He teased. "I bet your mother had to throw you out of the house before you could change your mind again." He laughed harder when Kimberly, who had just finished buckling up, punched him on the shoulder.

"So what if I couldn't find anything to wear?" Kimberly sniffed. "But, no, my Mom didn't throw me out. I just didn't want to have you wait too long." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "It's so good to have you back, Jace. It'll be just like old times. Do you think you're going to try out for the football team again?

"The coach said that he'd love to have me back but since this game was such short notice, he wants me to sit out and start going to practice again next week," Jason explained. He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. True to Jason form, he kept one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on the armrest on the car door, car seat leaning back. "And it's great to be back here. I was starting to wonder if things would've changed a lot while I was gone. But I don't think I can expect Rita and Zedd to stop trying to destroy the city." He paused. "Or at least would've moved to a different area by now. Maybe Stone Canyon."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "You're just saying that because you want them to lose the game today."

"Isn't that the point of city rivalries?"

"It must be hard for Rocky, Adam, and Aisha though," Kimberly added. Her voice softened a little as she slid down in her seat, crossing her legs at the knee. Jason glanced at her then refocused on the road. "They had to move so quickly, because of their ranger duties, and now everything and everyone they knew are their rivals."

"It's the sort of thing that Tommy had to do, I guess," Jason agreed. "Apart from the whole school rivalry thing. I mean, he moved out here and had to get used to everything that was new, the only difference being his ranger duties were marked by evil." He cleared his throat. "But they all seem to be adjusting well to everything going on."

"Yeah, you're right." Then Kimberly's eyes widened. "Oh, I forgot to tell you! There's a new girl in school, too. Her name's Kat. She just moved here from Australia."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do she and Avie know each other?"

"No." Kimberly's thought for a moment. "Which is the weird part. They both acknowledge that they've never met each other, but then Av keeps saying that her name sounds familiar. They didn't grow up in the same area or anything, though. Av is from New South Wales and Kat is from Western Australia."

"Huh, that is strange." Jason was silent for a moment, lightly licking his lips. "Maybe she won a competition or had her name in the paper or something."

"Maybe."

Kimberly thought about it for another long moment but her curiosity was replaced with an excited grin. She couldn't hold still, nor could she keep the smile off her face. It was all too exciting. One of her best friends was back home, she was getting stronger, they had the new zords and powers that were to keep the city safe day after day, and her friends were all by her side.

What could go wrong?

All of a sudden the car lurched to the side and Jason let out a startled sound, causing Kimberly to glance over at the driver's seat. She laughed when she saw that the crane zord had flown over and landed atop the steering wheel, right in front of Jason's face. Giggling, the pink ranger reached out and held out her hand, allowing the crane zord to perch upon it. Jason glanced at her with an expression that read nothing short of, 'what the fuck was that?', as he alternatively glanced at the road.

"I guess I forgot to mention our zords," Kimberly said. "You see, with our new powers, and with the use of the Azurite Healiodore, which opened up the powers to us, our zords had the ability to go back and forth from a miniature size to their actual zord size. That way our zords can be with us whenever we're fighting. If not with us, they're back at the Command Center like our old dino zords had been."

"Wow." Jason's voice was low. Judging by his ragged breathing, he was still reeling from his scare. "I guess there are some things _have_ changed." He pulled up into the school's parking lot and quickly parked near his friends as they stood around. Tommy, Billy, Adam, and Rocky were dressed in their football uniforms, carrying their helmets in hand, while Aisha, Avalon, Bailey, and Kat stood aside, talking with them.

Kimberly climbed out of the car and waved to her friends before hurrying over to Tommy and giving him a hug and a kiss. "Hi! Are you excited about the game?"

"Oh yeah," Tommy agreed. "We've been working on a lot of different plays that I think will definitely have us playing well." He reached out a hand and shook Jason, who stood at the edge of the group, arms cross over his chest. "Still, it would be even better if you were playing, man."

"I'll be out on the field with you guys next week," Jason replied. "You better be ready for me."

"The team has definitely missed you a lot," Billy agreed. "It'll be fun to have you playing with us again."

"I'm just glad to be here," Jason agreed. He then turned and noticed Katherine, holding his hand out towards her. "I'm sorry; I don't think we've met. I'm Jason Scott."

"Katherine Hillard," Kat said with a smile, shaking his hand firmly. "It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you from all of these guys." She motioned to the rangers. "They've done a really good job at making me feel at home."

"I can see that." Jason's eyes lowered to the t-shirt that Kat was wearing. He glanced at the number that resided on the front, then at Tommy's jersey, then at the jersey that Kimberly was wearing, noting that all three of them had the same number.

Kat noticed his gaze and blushed, quickly bringing her hands up. Her face reddened even further when she spotted the rest of the rangers all looking at her shirt with varying expressions of amusement. "Oh, no, it was an accident, I swear. I didn't even know Tommy's jersey number was twelve." She lowered her head. "It's a weird coincidence…it's my lucky number, actually."

"Well, maybe it'll give us some extra luck in the game," Rocky suggested, hoping to ease the tension. Kimberly and Aisha both frowned at the red ranger and he let out a low breath, starting to rock back and forth on his heels. "So how about Stone Canyon, huh?"

"Don't dig yourself into an even deeper hole, Rock," Aisha suggested, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you really want to focus on the fact that you're playing a game against some guys that used to be some of your teammates."

"It is kind of strange," Adam agreed. "I grew up with some of them and now we're rivals." He shook his head, lightly clapping his hand against the top of his helmet. "I hope there aren't any hard feelings once the game is over."

"There shouldn't be any on your end once you beat them," Avalon remarked and grinned, causing the rangers to laugh.

"That being said, I think we should find our seats," Bailey added, motioning to the bleachers that continued to fill with students, family, and friends as the seconds passed. "It looks like a lot of people came out to see an ace game."

"She's right," Tommy agreed. "Let's go before the coach looks for us." He turned to his girlfriend. "Actually, Kim, I wanted to show you something if you have the time." Kimberly nodded as she beamed up at her boyfriend. "I'll see you guys on the field, he said to Rocky, Adam, and Billy." He then motioned for Kim to follow him and the two trotted off towards his car.

Jason spoke up before the rest of the rangers had the chance to leave. "Is there something going on with Kim?" He asked, watching her leave before turning back to the rangers. "I can't really put my finger on it, but I have the feeling there' something…different about her." Adam gulped quietly and looked away, which was unnoticed to everyone but Jason.

"I haven't noticed her particularly acting in a way that is out of her normal set of discourse," Billy commented with a shrug. Rocky pointed over at him and added, "What he said."

Aisha, Avalon, and Bailey all exchanged a look, shaking their heads. They hadn't seen anything was wrong with her either. She was just as energetic and excitable about everything as she always had been. And Kat hadn't been around her long enough to know if there truly was something about her that was out of place.

"Alright," Jason agreed. "Just…if any of you guys know anything, please let me know."

"No problem, man," Rocky agreed. There was a sharp blast of a whistle and the group turned to see Mr. Kaplan, the coach of the football team, waving the boys over from the parking lot. "Uh-oh, we have to go."

"Good luck," Kat said to the boys, giving them the thumbs up.

"Thanks." Adam waved to the girls. He caught Jason's eye and looked away, ducking his head as he started across the parking lot. Jason was about to ask something about it then stopped when he noticed Billy lean over and give Avalon a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying to catch up to the red and black ninja rangers.

"C'mon!" Aisha rubbed her hands together. "I want to get some good seats for the game!"

Jason motioned for the girls to go ahead of him before falling into step with the orange ninja ranger. He cleared his throat, capturing her attention, then started with, "so…you and Bill?" He asked.

Avalon appeared startled for a moment, and then she gave an easygoing smile as she shrugged. "Bet you didn't see that coming, huh?" she guessed with a light laugh. "What can I say? I'm happy. After finally getting out of the Vipers and having everything fall into place, I guess it was just a matter of time. I mean, you can only live with someone for so long right?" She joked. "To be honest, it was the last thing that I thought would happen."

"How long have you guys been going out?"

"Since the summer." She then clarified with. "Not long after the funeral."

"Oh." Jason nodded shortly. "You never said anything."

"Honestly, mate, I didn't think about it," she said honestly. She stopped by the opening of the bleachers and the former ranger stopped beside her. "There's been so much going on over here…" she trailed off, unsure what to say next.

Jason let out a long breath. So not everything was the same, Not that he had particularly expected it to be like he had stepped out of Angel Grove and then go back and step into the same role that had been there for him. If he had, then Rocky, Adam, nor Aisha would've been there as rangers and he, Trini, and Zack would be the ones with the new powers. Even then, he talked to Trini a lot more than Zack, the former black ranger seeming to dodge his calls left and right. Nevertheless, he couldn't believe that not even Kim, the resident gossip, had said anything about it. He heard all about Goldar, Scorpina, Rito, Ivan, what happened to the rest of the horoscope monsters, and the things that were going on in their lives in school before and after Billy's mother's death, but nothing about this.

"Well, I'm really happy for you two," he said honestly.

The orange ranger eyed him skeptically. "Really?"

"Really," he insisted. Sincerity was clear in his tone. "You've gone through a lot since you moved to Angel Grove and I'm glad you found something that makes you happy."

Avalon grinned. "Thanks." She then smirked at him. "And don't worry, Rudolph, I'm sure you'll find someone that'll play one of your reindeer games with you." She patted Jason on the shoulder as he laughed, before following her up onto the bleachers with their friends. "You won't believe how long I've been waiting to say that."

"I'm sure you have," Jason agreed. He looked up as there was a rattling sound and spotted Kimberly bouncing up the bleachers, literally bouncing, having come from another opening and worked her way through the crowd to reach her friends. Despite his worry for his pseudo-little sister, he could see there was something that was really exciting her. "Geez, Kim, you didn't get into those ice cream sandwich things you like so much did you?"

"No!" Kimberly stuck her tongue out at him before holding out her right hand where a ring sat nestled on her ring finger. "Look what Tommy gave me! It's not our anniversary or anything, but he said that he wanted to give it to me because he loves me so much."

"Aww," Aisha cooed.

"Yuck," Avalon murmured. Bailey elbowed her in the side and the two smirked at each other.

"I like it," the purple ranger then announced.

"That's so sweet Kim," Kat said as she looked over the ring, holding her hand around Kim's so that she could examine it closer. "It's beautiful." She squeezed Kimberly's hand tightly and Kim's face screwed up for a moment before bringing her hand back.

"Thanks…Kat," Kimberly replied. She looked up at the blonde before turning back to the field and cheering when she spotted the Angel Grove football team had come onto the field. Jason got up and stood next to her, cheering loudly when his friends stormed the field for the introduction of their starting positions.

The game started off quickly with a kick-off from Stone Canyon to Angel Grove, who received the ball and charged down the field. With Rocky and Adam on the offensive line, Billy on the defensive line, and Tommy as the quarterback, Jason could see the team was playing to their strengths and the other team's weaknesses. Every time there was a good opening for Tommy to pass the ball long, Rocky or Adam would always manage to be there to catch it and get a few yards, if not a few touchdowns, before they were stopped by the other team. And when Stone Canyon's offensive line came to be too much to handle, instead of lobbing the ball, Tommy would hand it off to Billy who would strategically place himself on the field to make it through open pockets and charge down the field until he was stopped or got a touchdown. To which Rocky would follow up with a field goal kick.

Not that Stone Canyon was anything to make light of. Every move the Angel Grove team would make, the Stone Canyon team seemed to come back with just as hard, making it so that each side of the scoreboard managed to stay neck and neck as the first half finished with Angel Grove ahead with 16 points with Stone Canyon's 14.

As soon as the whistle was blown to show that half time had started, Kat got to her feet, stretching her arms over her head. "I'm hungry," she announced. "I'm going to get some ice cream or something. Does anybody want anything?"

Bailey started to confirm that she wanted to get something to eat, but stopped as soon as the sound of the Communicators going off caught her off-guard. Jason's body tensed, a knee-jerk reaction to the sound he had grown accustomed to hearing for the past couple of years. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to fight off whatever monster and footman that Rita and Zedd were sending out. But then he remembered that he wasn't a ranger anymore and he had a new job that had befallen upon him.

Kat didn't seem to react to the communicators going off, for she continuously waited for the girls to let her know whether or not they were going to accompany her at the snack bar.

"Uh, actually, I think we're all fine," Aisha finally replied. "But you go on ahead. The line is going to get really long if you don't head over there."

"Alright," Kat agreed. "If you're sure. I'll be right back."

The rangers waited until she left the bleachers before they all leaned in to each other and Kimberly raised her communicator up so that everyone could hear. "What's going on, Zordon?"

"Rita and Zedd have unleashed a horde of Tengas in the business district of downtown Angel Grove," Alpha said in his panicked voice. "You have to hurry. Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina may be nearby as well."

"You guys better get going," Jason suggested. "I'll think of something to tell Kat."

"Thanks mate," the purple ranger said gratefully.

"We'll be there as soon as we can, Alpha," Avalon said and the pink ranger lowered her arm. The girls looked around before they all got up and hurried down the bleachers, onto the grass, and went out of sight. Jason looked around until he saw the familiar flashes of color streak across the sky. He looked down on the football field to see if the boys had gotten the call as well.

They didn't appear to have gotten it.

"Where'd everyone go?" Kat asked, returning to the bleachers, ice cream cone in hand.

"Oh." Jason wracked his brain as hard as he could for a good excuse. "They all went to…the bathroom." It was the worst excuse he could come up with, but at least he had a bit of leverage on his side, knowing there was a good chance that the large number of people in attendance to the game would corroborate his story.

"Oh. Ok." Kat sat down next to Jason and started to eat her ice cream cone. "I hope they're back in time for the next half to start."

Jason nodded; glad she had quickly believed his story. If it was just a monster of the day, it wouldn't take long for them to get back for the rest of the game.

Besides, their absence would give Jason some time to figure out why Kimberly's ring had seemed so large against her finger.

* * *

"Tommy is everything alright?" The white ranger nodded at his mother's question but still didn't respond. He continued to poke around at the spaghetti that sat uneaten on his plate. "You've been so quiet since you got back from the game.

The white ranger still didn't respond, and Mr. and Mrs. Oliver exchanged a worried glance. Then Mr. Oliver cleared his throat and tried to get his son to speak up. "How'd the game go? Did you win?"

"Yeah, we won in the last quarter," Tommy mumbled. He rested his chin in his hand, staring down at his plate. It actually had been a really good game. Not only had the team won, but it had put them in good standings for their next game, against a team that wasn't ranked as high as Stone Canyon in a state level. That would've been exciting for anyone playing the game.

And yet he couldn't focus on the game. Not after he had made even one of the harder decisions of his life and while it didn't have the same sort of ramifications that the destructions of the zords did, it still caused a lot of harm to the team.

He had heard the communicator going off while they were on the field but they couldn't do anything about it until time ran out on the clock. They persevered through the last of the half and headed to join the team to hear what Mr. Kaplan had to say about the next half. He, Rocky, Billy, and Adam had just jogged off of the field for half time when the communicators had gone off. The four slowed to a walk and exchanged glances before looking around. Tommy brought up his communicator. "What's going on, Zordon, we're kind of busy."

"Rita and Zedd have sent Tengas down to destroy the business district. The other rangers are on their way there," Alpha said.

"Can it wait?" Adam asked. He looked over at the team as it formed around Mr. Kaplan. "We're in the middle of a football game."

"It is very urgent rangers," Zordon's voice then came over the system. "We wouldn't ask if it weren't something we felt you needed to handle right away."

Tommy sighed a she lowered his wrist, looking around. The second half of the game was going to start soon and if they left, they would have to forfeit. It being the first game of the year it would have to be a very good excuse to do so. On the other hand if they rangers didn't go to stop Rita and Zedd and whatever plan they were working on, who knew what would happen? Would there be a massive backlash against the power rangers? Or would there be some sort of catastrophic destruction they could never see coming.

"What are we going to do, Tommy?" Rocky asked breathlessly. "We have to do something."

"But we also have to honor the commitment we made here," Billy pointed out. "It's not like no one will notice the sudden disappearance of four team members, especially when one of them is such an esteemed quarterback like Tommy is."

If the situation wasn't so dire, Tommy would've felt a boost of confidence from the compliment. Nevertheless, he ran a hand over his hair, starting to pace back and forth. He had to make the final decision, but what was the best decision to make in this instance? As he continued to pace back and forth, Tommy glanced at the stands and watched Kat and Jason. Jason sat forward, his hands clasped together between his knees, watching Tommy's every move. _What would Jason do if he were still the leader right now?_ He couldn't help but ask himself.

Finally, Tommy made his decision. "We have to stay here," he said to the boys, who all regarded him with surprise. "We can't let everyone down. And we have to believe that the girls can handle whatever it is that's going on. As soon as the game is over, we can go help them."

"If you're sure, Tommy," Adam agreed.

"Whatever you say, man," Rocky added.

Billy, on the other hand, supported the white ranger wholeheartedly. "He's right. The girls can handle this themselves and if it were the other way around, they'd make the same decision and they'd put all of their support in us."

"Right. So let's win this game and help them out," Tommy said.

As soon as the game ended, the boys teleported to the Command Center and found that the girls had been beaten by the Tengas as Goldar continued to send out wave after wave of the feathered monsters, who easily overpowered them once it became more than four Tengas fighting them at once. The sight lone of seeing the girls look so dejected, apart from knowing how hard they had fought to fend them off for so long, made Tommy's stomach clench with guilt.

He had made that decision and things hadn't gone so well.

And it continued to eat at him as the day went on. Now he couldn't even bear to eat anything, his stomach was twisting and turning so much. "May I be excused?" He pushed back his chair and went up the stairs to his room. Maybe working out with his martial arts would ease things for him.

And for hours he worked hard on his kiais, footwork, and upper body patterns in as many martial arts styles as he could remember. It wasn't until he was in the shower that he realized the true reason as to why he consistently worrying about his decisions as the leader of the rangers. It was just like the time he had fought against the rangers when he was the green ranger. Under Rita's spell he had done everything he could to make sure that he took away their resources. He got into the Command Center and destroyed that, he got into their zords and broke them apart as hard as he could, and battle after battle he constantly fought hard and defeated them.

Up until the spell was broken from him.

 _"Was it truly broken?"_ Tommy sat down on the end of his bed, his head in his hands as the evil voice of the green ranger filled his head. _"I've been with you ever since, Tommy. Just waiting for the right moment. You know, you never truly stop being evil, it's always inside you. Like something waiting to creep upon you in the darkness._

"No," Tommy murmured. "You're not here. You're not here. The green ranger isn't around anymore."

_"But I've never left, Tommy."_

"No."

_"Yes. It's the truth. I'm never going away, you see, because I'm part of you. And I'm always going to be a part of you. No matter where you go, I'll always be there. It's only a matter of time until I'm strong enough to come back again."_

"I'm not going to let you win," Tommy whispered, tightening his grip on his head. "I'll never let you win. Not with all of my friends on my side."

_"Oh, but you will, Tommy. You will."_


	25. Twisted

**Chapter 25**

_Twisted_

* * *

Dana ran a brush through her hair and turned back and forth in her mirror. She smoothed down the sides of her shirt, making sure they were tucked smoothly into her skirt then turned the opposite direction. She continued to study her reflection before leaving her room and walking down the hallway to her father's. Ducking her head into his room, she looked around, frowning when she found that he wasn't there.

On a whim, she left the room and hurried down to the living room, where they usually left their notes and found nothing there. Rolling her eyes lightly, she turned on her heel and went over to the phone, knowing that her father had snuck off to work despite knowing what they had to do that day. Nevertheless, she wasn't particularly surprised. He always was work oriented and even the times he had been sick he still found himself working as hard as possible. This time around, she was sure he had wanted to get some finishing touches done on whatever project he, Angela Fairweather, and Aaron were working on. Despite not having clearance on a lot of the things he worked on, she knew there was some big project they were all working on that only they and whoever else was under his company knew the exact details.

That had to be what he was doing.

Taking her cell phone from her pocket, she dialed in the number of her father's office and waited. She waited through the message that told her that her call could possibly be recorded, and then punched in the extension for her father's office. The phone nearly rang off the hook before her father finally picked up.

"Captain Mitchell speaking."

"Father, we're supposed to be going to the airport," Dana said as soon as he picked up the phone. "We're going to miss our flight if we don't leave within the next hour." She placed her hand on her hip. "How could you leave for work when you knew that we had an early flight?"

"Dana, I know you're excited to be going back to California, but I need you to calm down a bit." Captain Mitchell laughed in amusement. Dana could hear the sound of drills going behind him as well as a lot of chattering. "I just needed to be sure that everything would run smoothly while I was gone. And besides, I needed to get something so I could take it to Angel Grove."

Dana let out a light groan, rolling her eyes. "Dad, you said that you weren't going to bring any work with you."

"This is really important, Dana. I wouldn't be bringing it with me if I didn't think it was going to help us with our projects," he said calmly. He cleared his throat and all of a sudden the sounds behind him went away and Dana could hear him clearly. "I'll be back at the house in twenty minutes and then we can go to the airport. I'm sure Ellie is coming with us as well, she said that she was trying to get some time off, if she just doesn't come later. Apart from that, I'm just as happy to be going as you are."

"Really?"

"Really. Not only am I happy to go see Avalon and Bailey, but there's also someone there that I need to see as well."

"Who?"

"Billy Cranston. I'm sure he can help me with my project."

* * *

Goldar rolled onto his side and looked down at Scorpina who lay in his bed next to him. Her eyes had been closed but with his movement they shot open and looked over at him. As per usual, she was ready for anything that would come her way and despite the many nights that the two of them had spent together, he was well aware that she could kill him just as easily as he could kill her. He had seen it when the two had killed off the last of the horoscope monster.

She was the one that told him that they needed to get rid of Sagittaria so they could move one step closer to taking over the Lunar Palace. She had been the one that whispered n his ear, ran her hand up his arm, sent shivers through his body as she continued to whisper the plan they were going to continue with. That had been when she was still partially put together with that stupid human girl, Sabrina. Since they had split apart, she had become nothing more than an annoyance. In fights she worked off of pure hatred and her emotions against the rangers, which caused them to fail time after time.

She continuously walked around, acting as if she was the biggest, baddest thing on the planet since she, Rito, and Goldar had defeated the rangers when Ivan was around. She was a master manipulator and Goldar found himself drawn to her more and more as time went on. It was better than having to deal with that bumbling oaf, Rito. Not only did he have a habit of keeping to himself, being almost as ruthless as Rita and Zedd could be when the time came, but he also had a habit of acting like a fool, trying to get a laugh. It was annoying to the point where Goldar dreaded smelling the stench of the skeleton monster before he even reached him. He preferred the side that was serious and evil, who betrayed Ivan and stabbed him through the back when he got the chance.

Nevertheless, he was a loyal follower of Zedd's and knew it was only a matter of time until he finally managed to raise the ancient zords and destroy the rangers. Until then, he had to deal with those he was stuck working with.

"What is it?" Scorpina asked, raising a hand and gently running her fingers down Goldar's arms. Her charcoal eyes flashed with something he couldn't recognize. "You've been a restless sleeper lately."

"I've had someone else in my bed." Goldar turned to the side and slid out of his bed. He grabbed onto the protective plate that was on the floor and tied it back around his waist. He then scratched himself under his arms and turned back to the woman, reaching out and grasping the sword that rested by his bed. "You move too much. You're too restless when you sleep."

"My dreams," Scorpina clarified with an evil smile. "I just have too much fun crushing people in my dreams. I love being able to listen to them scream and cry in pain, the sound of their breaking bones, watching as their blood seeps out of their bodies." She paused, now scowling. "If only we could do that with those puny rangers. Capture the pink and white ones like Rita and Zedd want and just kill the others." She stretched her arms over her head before sliding out of the bed as well, adjusting the armor that covered her body.

Sauntering over to Goldar she rested her hands on his forearms. "Just think of it, Goldar. Just think of the way they'll scream in agony. In utter agony. I'll make them all watch each other die, they'll promptly waste themselves once they see what I'm going to do." Sucking in a deep breath, she turned on her heel and went over to the window, looking out at Earth as it loomed in front of her. The stars twinkled just as brightly as the light radiating from the planet. "What do you think sounds more fun? Breaking each and every bone and then killing them? Or doing a lot of little stabs from my sword, hearing as it grinds against their bones?"

Goldar continued to watch her. "I'm not sure," he admitted. He paused before continuing with. "And as it is, we don't know what Rita and Zedd have planned to do with the ancient zords. We can't go against their orders or else they're the ones we have to worry about. I don't know about Rita, but Zedd doesn't take lightly to those that betray him."

Scorpina rolled her eyes and turned back to Goldar, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't you get it, Goldar? We're the ones that should be running this palace. We're the ones that should be able to destroy the rangers with little effort. All we have to do is get rid of Rita and Zedd."

"You have a plan?"

"Wait for them to fall asleep, and then…" Scorpina nodded towards Goldar's sword before reaching for hers. She held it lovingly in her hands and rang her fingers along the side of it; each finger tapping over the tip of the protruding bone spikes. She lifted it up and kissed the side of the sword. "It won't take long for them to go if we aim right for their hearts." She paused then laughed lightly. "If they even have hearts, I mean. There has to be _something_ going on if Zedd thinks Rita looks _that_ good."

Goldar nodded.

He started to pace back and forth. It was a good idea, actually. The best time to get someone would be when they were asleep. Everyone was vulnerable when they were asleep. It was the only time they let go of reality, of the life that surrounded them and allowed themselves to fall into their dreams. They never had their scepter and wand around them when they were asleep, he knew that for sure. What was keeping them from going in and smothering them with their pillows or stabbing them through the heart? A few Tengas leftover? They followed whoever was in the throne at the time and if Goldar, Scorpina and Rito were there, they were the ones that would be rulers.

What's to say they couldn't be the next in line to take over the universe?

"All we have to do is wait for them to fall asleep," Scorpina continued, her voice now turning into a whisper. "And then we make sure there's no one guarding their room. And then we go in and make sure they fall into an eternal slumber."

Goldar lifted his sword and looked at it himself. His red eyes roved over the sharp metal that gleamed at all angles, reflecting light no matter how dark the room was. He turned back to Scorpina, who looked at him with loving eyes, glad that he was on her side and would be helping her out. Glad she wasn't doing it all on her own.

"You're right," he agreed finally, causing Scorpina to clasp her hands together and jump up and down. "That is a very good idea. A good sleep is all they need. What _we_ all need, really." He grabbed onto Scorpina with his left hand and used his right to lift his sword and shove it straight through Scorpina's chest. She let out a gasp of surprise, eyes widening as Goldar glared into her eyes with a fiery light, then pulled the sword back out of her chest cavity.

The sickening squelching sound that her chest made a few times happened at the time as her chest heaved up and down. But Goldar knew it wouldn't help, there was no air that was going to get to her lungs. His sword was so wide that he knew if he had missed her heart, there was a good chance he was going to get her lungs. No matter, she wasn't going to survive this. Scorpina reached out and grabbed onto Goldar with alternating strong grips and loose ones, her knees buckling. Tears leaked out the corner of her eyes as she knew her end was near, the sucking sound of her breathing continuing to fill the room.

Finally, Goldar let go of his grasp on Scorpina and watched as her knees completely gave out, allowing her to fall to the floor in the puddle of blood that seeped out from the wood and trickled down her body. "Good night," Goldar growled, watching as Scorpina's eyes darkened and she slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Turning on his heel, he left his bedroom, calling for the Tengas to dispose of her body.

* * *

Rocky sighed as he pressed his hands together, resting his elbows on the table in front of him. He looked over as Maria pushed a picture into his face, showing him the drawing she had just made. He smiled his thanks before turning back to the empty space in front of him. The spot that his father was going to preoccupy. He hadn't wanted to go out to breakfast that day, after hearing his father was going to be in of attendance. But he hadn't wanted to disappoint his mother, who truly did want to have breakfast as a family.

Still, he couldn't help but glare at the spot across from him, menu untouched and silverware untouched as well. It infuriated him, and probably always would, and yet he loved his mother so much that he wasn't going to allow him to mess things up for them.

"Rocky," Isabella whispered from his other side, causing the red ranger to glance at her out of the corner of his eye. "Relax. Please. You're making this a lot weirder than it has to be." She gestured towards the country-style restaurant. "We're just having breakfast, we're not asking for him to move back in or anything."

Finally, the red ranger managed to give a small smile. "You're right Izzie," he agreed. "I'll try to relax a little bit." He glanced down at his communicator, silently willing for it to go off. The first time he had with his family in a while and he hasn't gotten any messages to go off to fight some sort of monster or Tengas? Why was it that the only time he and the rest of the rangers were needed was when everything was going on, but the times that nothing was going on, they weren't needed?

"How's school going, Rocky?" Mrs. DeSantos asked her son. She set down her menu and looked over her shoulder before regarding her eldest child once more. "Are your classes going well?"

"Oh yeah, my classes are fine." Rocky waved his hand. "They're a bit more difficult than usual. But its senior year, so I guess that makes sense." He laced his fingers together as he thought about it. "We have a lot more football practices coming up as well as games. And even then we still have the homecoming dance and stuff to work through. Especially since we have to figure out spirit week and stuff."

"The dance is coming up, si?" Mrs. DeSantos continued, to which Rocky nodded his confirmation, taking a sip of water. "Do you have anyone to go with?" At his pause she continued. "Don't act modest, Rocky, you are a handsome boy and you're always able to catch the eye of every girl that's in your vicinity." She shrugged. "They may not be the kind of girls that I like for you, but it wouldn't be hard for someone to take." She thought for a moment. "As long as she has the same sort of values…"

"Ma…" Rocky sighed, shaking his head. He heard this a million times before. She wanted him to go out with someone that went to church, who was conservative, who had morals and values that were really close to or lined with his. As much as his mother did want him to have a girlfriend, settle down, and have a lot of family, he was pretty sure she wasn't going to find anyone that she one hundred percent approved to be with. "I'm probably just going to go with Aisha or the new girl in school, Kat."

"Kat?"

"She's from Australia, she just moved here," Rocky explained. "She's really nice and doesn't really know her way around. I thought it'd be nice." He shrugged and then looked at his brothers and sisters as they all started to giggle. "What? What's so funny?"

"That's what you always say, Rocky," Antonio pointed out.

"I do not."

"Yes, you do," Maria and Diego said at the same time, causing the table to start laughing once more.

"You're such a handsome boy, Rocky," Mrs. DeSantos repeated. "You certainly take after your father in that aspect." Rocky rolled his eyes as his siblings all smiled even wider. Her eyes shifted behind her family and she stood up, a bright smile coming onto her face. Rocky turned around and watched as his father, Daniel, stride over to the table.

His handsome face split into a wide smile as he spotted his wife. He grabbed onto her hands and smiled before leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Rosa, you look beautiful as ever," he said to her before giving her a hug. Mrs. DeSantos smiled a smile so wide that Rocky hadn't seen in a long time, and hugged her husband back. He watched as his parents hugged for a long time, gently rocking back and forth. Then Daniel released his wife and turned to his children, opening his arms once more. "Who's gonna give me a hug?"

Diego and Maria immediately leapt out of their seats and hurried over towards Daniel, crashing into him and reaching their arms up. Daniel wrapped his arms around them and lifted them high, gently rocking them back and forth. He then gave them kisses on the side of the head before lowering them back down. His youngest children grabbed onto his legs, though moved aside so that Diego and Isabella got their chance to give him a hug.

And the red ranger could do nothing but sit there and watch, slowly brewing with anger. How could everyone but him seem to forget what happened? Diego and Maria he could understand, they were so young that he was sure they didn't ever remember Daniel at all other than stories that Rosa told them. Isabella and Antonio should've remembered a little bit of him, but not the night the raid had happened. They were gone at friends' house at the time, and then Rosa had said that their father had moved for his job. Only Rocky and Rosa knew the truth about what happened that night.

Yet, here she was, kissing him and wanting him to have breakfast with them. No. Rocky couldn't do it. He wanted to try. But he just remember how betrayed he felt once he knew how bad things have gotten. It was scary; having been woken up by police bursting into his room, shouting and waving flashlights in his face, tearing things off the walls and to the floor.

And Rocky sat curled up in bed, screaming and crying for his mother and father, not knowing that his father had been placed into the back of a police car and his mother was pleading with the arresting cops to let him go. The little boy continued to cry and scream until one of the raiders grabbed onto him and pulled him out of the room, gently soothing him as he was brought downstairs to his mother. Within the next week everything had spilled out into the open and Rocky knew he didn't want to end up like his father. He got his mother to enroll him in martial arts and he used that as a motivator to make sure he had a better life in sight.

He remembered why he had made that decision as he watched his father sit down in front of him and leaned forward, resting his eyes on the red ninja ranger. "Aren't you going to give me a hug?"

"No," Rocky said bluntly. "Frankly, I'm a little surprised that you're here. Are you going to be here long?"

Daniel shrugged before lacing his fingers together. "As long as I'm allowed to be. I don't know." He looked over at Rosa with a sly smile. "We're working it out. But I'd hope that this can be a start of our family workings its way back together. So that we can be a real family again."

"Well, that depends Dad," Rocky replied with a small smile, eyes flashing. "Is my room going to be busted open by the police? Am I going to be raided again? Are you going to stash more drugs in my room?"

"Rocky!" Mrs. DeSantos cried.

The sound of his communicator going off split through the air and Rocky leapt up from his seat, pushing back his chair. "I have something I need to take care of. I'll see you later." He went over to his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek and kissed his brothers and sisters before taking his coat, which draped across the back of the chair, and leaving the restaurant.

He had never been so happy to leave food to deal with his ranger duties than in that moment.

* * *


	26. Can't We All Just Get Along

**Chapter 26**

_Can't We all Just Get Along?_

* * *

"Here kitty, kitty," Aisha cooed. The white cat that sat on the other side of the room, purred before rolling onto its back, stretching its paws out above its head. The yellow ranger giggled before reaching out and running her hand along its stomach, causing it to purr even louder and stretch as long as it could. "You're a great kitty aren't you?"

In return, the cat leaned up and gently licked Aisha's wrist. The yellow ranger smiled and continued to pet him, running her fingers down her back before looking up when she heard the pink ranger come back into the room. Aisha glanced up at her, her eyebrows lowering when she studied her friend. Kimberly's face, which was usually so expressive and glowing as much as her personality, was gaunt if not a little pale and the smile on her face didn't reach her eyes. It was already strange enough that she was bundled up in a light sweater and long jeans on a warm day, which she explained that it had been a little chilly when she had been working out that morning, as well as it had still been a bit cold when she walked over to Aisha's house to play with the cat and try to convince Mrs. Campbell for them to keep it.

Still, Aisha hadn't truly been sure of that. Yes, it was cold in the shade, as she had seen when she went outside to try and bring the cat back in, but it was actually pretty warm. And even then, she had spent an awfully long time in the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" Aisha asked Kimberly as she sat down on the couch, appearing winded. Kimberly perked up a little, though the light still didn't reach her eyes, and nodded. "You were in the bathroom for a long time."

"I had to make sure my makeup was okay," Kimberly reminded her. She brought up her legs, crossing them as she sat Indian style on the couch. "Especially since it's all going to be washed off later when we're at the lake. But you know me."

Aisha laughed in agreement and leaned back against the couch behind her, allowing the cat, which he still had yet to name, climb over her lap and nuzzle against her chest. Kimberly laughed as well, but it didn't quite reach its full potential. _I know that you're not acting like yourself,_ Aisha thought. Truthfully, she hadn't known Kimberly that long; long enough to understand what it was to be a power ranger, what it was to have a lot of responsibility. She got to know Tommy, Billy, Kim, and Avalon as the days went on, but there was still a part of her that felt there was something else out there for her. With their constant run-ins with Tengas and monsters, she wasn't surprised that their personal lives were starting to take a hit.

Adam's having lost his girlfriend, Billy losing his mother, Rocky's father coming back, Avalon's constant worry about Chase and the Vipers, Bailey wondering what it was like to be a normal teenager, Tommy's coming to terms that he would be having new siblings soon, Kimberly and her relationship with her mother…her own insecurities about the future. All of it was starting to unravel and she knew it was only because they hadn't been paying so much attention to their own lives as they did their rangering. Not that being a ranger wasn't important, they had to drop everything they were doing to make sure their friends, family, and the citizens of Angel Grove were safe, but they didn't focus much on what they wanted themselves.

It was only a matter of time until they graduated and had to go their separate ways through college and everything after that. But what was coming after that? What was going to happen to the power rangers if they couldn't stay together? That was the point of Jason, Trini, and Zack's leaving and then herself, Rocky, and Adam taking their places. There had to be someone else that could take up the role, if they all went to college what would happen? They couldn't stay in Angel Grove for the rest of their lives. Well, Aisha knew she wouldn't, she had too many dreams and goals that she wanted to make. She couldn't go off and learn how to be a vet without getting experience at other vets and throughout schooling.

"What are you thinking about, Aisha?" Kimberly asked, noticing the yellow ranger's sudden sullen look.

Aisha looked up at her friend and smiled as she waved her hand. "Nothing, really. Just thinking about the future. What I want to do with life, boring things like that." She absentmindedly stroked the cat before gently pushing it off her lap and moving to sit with her friend. She peered at her, leaning close to the pink ranger's face, causing her to giggle nervously. "What's going on, Kim? You've been acting strangely for a while now."

Shifting in her seat, Kimberly avoided her gaze. "No I haven't."

"Yes, you have," Aisha insisted. "Even Jason noticed it." Kimberly's eyes widened as Aisha spoke about the former ranger that had grown to be like a brother to Kimberly. He protected her form boys—mostly Skull—that wouldn't leave her alone, he made sure she was safe in battle, but at the same time he gave her space to make her own decisions, her own mistakes, and supported her throughout everything, willing to support her when the time came.

If _he_ had noticed and asked the rest of them if they had seen something, then there had to be something that she wasn't saying to the rest of the rangers. Not only did he used to be the leader before Tommy had taken that spot, but even coming back to Angel Grove, no longer a ranger, he still showed that he was destined for something great. Even if that meant showing his utmost concern over his friends and family that he had previously left behind. No matter what, Jason proved that they could move on from being a ranger and not quite leave them.

"It's nothing, Aisha," Kimberly protested. She brought her hands up and pushed her hair back from her ears, hoping to keep her reddening cheeks from being exposed by the quick movement of her hand. "Nothing that important, anyway."

"Girl, I know something's up ad you better tell me right now," Aisha sassed. She jokingly snapped her fingers before reaching over towards Kimberly and starting to jostle her. "Come on, I know it! What happened? What's going on?" She then paused when Kimberly continued to remain silent. "Look, Kim, if it's something that important, you don't have to tell me. In fact, I'll stop asking, I—"

"No." Kimberly finally responded. Placing her hands in her lap she took a deep breath before a small smile slid onto her face. "It's just…so exciting, I don't think I can keep it in much longer, I have to tell someone and I know my Mom won't listen." She reached down and gently started to twist the ring that Tommy had given her back and forth across her finger.

The yellow ranger's eyes lowered to the jewel and after a second her eyes widened. No. No way. She knew that the pink and white rangers were in love; there was no other explanation as to why they had similar zords and powers if it weren't for some sort of destiny that was keeping them together, but they were too young to get married. As a matter of fact, she didn't think Tommy would truly be dumb enough to propose to Kim at that moment in time. There was too much around them that they had to deal with in means of being rangers and working out their new powers. And even Kim wouldn't be dumb enough to accept the proposal for that same reason and because they all knew they had a big future ahead of them all.

"If that boy proposed to you, I will kick his ass!" Aisha declared.

Kimberly looked startled for a moment as the cat made a long hissing sound and jumped up onto the couch, scratching Kim across the knee and the thigh, causing her to squeal in pain as it raced off around the corner of the living room. Then she looked down at her ring and quickly let out a light laugh.

"No! No!" She continued to laugh before finally calming down so that she could explain. "This isn't an engagement ring, I promise. It's just a gift, like I said before, but…" she lowered her voice, despite no one being around to hear their conversation. Her father was at work and her mother was upstairs working from home for the day. "Tommy and I…we did do something..." she trailed off; hoping that Aisha would catch on to what she was implying.

It took a minute, but then Aisha's face lit up and she started to flap her hands at her sides. "Oh my gosh! Really? You and Tommy actually had sex?" Kimberly blushed and nodded and Aisha grabbed onto her arm. "When? When did his happen? Why didn't you tell me about it before? What was it like? I heard that it hurts for the first time."

Kimberly brought her knees up and curled her arms around her upraised knees. "It was the day of the party." Aisha's eyes, comically, widened even further and Kimberly let out a light groan. "I know, I know. But…Aisha it was romantic, and…and I knew that everything he was saying to me was the truth. It wasn't planned, I didn't think we would be…doing it so soon but that's what the best part of it was. We didn't plan it or anything it just happened and…and it was amazing. It was like I truly did understand him, like I was inside him and he was inside me."

"Well—"Aisha started but was cut off by Kimberly's playful swat at her leg. "Sorry, I'm kidding. But…that's great, Kim. I can tell that you two really do love each other."

"Yeah…"

A dreamy smile slid onto Kimberly's face and she could help but allow herself to giggle once more. And Aisha loved being able to see it, though she still noted that Kimberly was still so…low-key. Normally Kim would've been bouncing off the walls and wanting to talk about everything in sight, and now she practically had to pry it out of her.

Aisha let out a light breath and looked at her watch. "Yikes! We have to get changed into our bathing suits!" She climbed off of the couch and hurried over towards the door to the living room, her braids swinging behind her.

"Bathing suit?"

Aisha turned around and faced her best friend with a smile. "We're going to the lake remember? The big, city-wide picnic at the lake? Remember?" She rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't tell me that you're starting to worry about how you look in a bathing suit, Kim. You always look amazing and I'm sure Tommy's going to love whatever you wear."

"I know," Kimberly agreed. She slowly got up from the couch as if she had no energy to do so. "I just…I don't think that I brought my bathing suit here."

"Don't be silly, it's in your bag, in my room remember?" Aisha reached out and took Kimberly's hand, gently dragging her to the stairs and up to her room. "And besides, even if you didn't have a bathing suit you could borrow one of mine." She paused. "It might not be your color, but you could still borrow it all the same."

"You're right, it's not my color," Kimberly agreed. "I could never wear anything so bright and sunny. But you really pull it off, Aisha. No one represents the color yellow better than you do"

"What do you mean?" Aisha slowed as they started to climb the stairs.

"You're always so bright and cheerful. You're optimistic and you want to do nothing but help other people and help save the world. You're definitely a yellow, Aisha. And a great friend to have. You're destined for great things, I can tell."

"Wow, thanks Kim."

"Don't mention it."

And Aisha truly did appreciate everything that Kim had said. She strived to be the one that could help a lot of people. She wanted to help animals and humans alike, wanted t know that she would be the first to make a major medical breakthrough that would help hundreds if not thousands. And she still couldn't help her friends around her. She had no idea how to help Billy grieve through his mother's death as she hadn't lost anyone in her family, she had no idea how to help Avalon as she had never been in that sort of situation, helping Bailey was possible but could potentially be tricky as things for thirteen year olds were always so confusing, she didn't know how to help Adam through his loss of Sabrina as she hadn't dated, and she didn't know how to help Rocky through his problems with his father. Not being able to help was really starting to get to her, to really hurt her emotionally. Not only was Aisha always known for being the peace-keeper, for being the one that was able to give the best advice to help everyone.

Now she wasn't needed, especially as it seemed that Jason was taking that role, and she didn't know what to do.

Nevertheless, the smile was still on her face as she pushed open the door to her bedroom and stopped in her tracks, finding Kat swiftly turning around and looking at her. The two regarded each other with wide eyes before the yellow ninja ranger finally spoke up.

"Kat?" Aisha asked, placing her hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

Kat shifted her gaze to the side for a moment before coming up with an acceptable answer. "I was having some trouble with my English homework, and Rocky said that you would be a great tutor." She shifted her backpack, pointing behind her with her thumb. "Your Mum let me in, but if this is a bad time, I can come back later." Her eyes shifted from Kimberly and back to the yellow ranger alternatively.

Aisha chewed her lower lip for a moment. She didn't believe Kat at all. Not because she was jealous, as Kimberly had pointed out, not because she was angry at the girl for any particular reason, but because there was something about her that she didn't trust. There was too much mystery around the girl despite the fact that she was so open with a lot of things in her life. And, why was it that she was suddenly in her house? The story of her mother letting Kat in…she hadn't heard the doorbell, a knock on the door, or any sort of indication someone else was there, like the others had done when they arrived.

"No," she finally replied. "It's not a bad time. We were just hanging out."

"Oh, well, I don't want to bother you if you were busy." Something flashed across Kat's face, something that resembled anger. Aisha's eyes narrowed as she studied the girl, the look of intense anger being very familiar to her.

 _Where have I seen that look before?_ She thought, tilting her head to the side.

The expression changed after a minute and Kat looked over at Kimberly, her eyes moving down to the cuts on her leg. "What happened?"

"Oh. Aisha's cat scratched me."

Kat smirked a little, and then regarded Kimberly with an air of nonchalance. "That really sucks. It looks like it hurt, but at least it's not that bad." She brushed her hair back, looking around the floor of the room. "Where is the kitty? I love cats; they're always so cute and cuddly."

Aisha's attention was suddenly shifted to her pet, which she realized wasn't in her room after it had run out of the living room in haste. "I don't know," she admitted. "She's always running around somewhere, I'm sure we'll find her soon." She then paused when Kat didn't make a move to leave the room and clasped her hands together. "So you came by to get some help on homework? I didn't think Ms. Appleby had assigned any homework this weekend. In fact, I know we didn't have any homework."

Kimberly shot Aisha a strange look and the yellow ninja ranger waved her off.

Kat gave a pleasant smile. "She didn't, but she gave me some to make sure I was caught up with everyone before our first test comes around." She studied the girls for a moment before taking a step back. "But like I said, if you're busy…"

"Actually," Kim interrupted. "We were about to head out to the lake with the others, if you wanted to come."

"The lake?" Kat repeated. She smiled, allowing her abnormally sharp canines to show. "Sounds perfect."

* * *

"Perfect," Zedd growled, running his fingers together. "Now that we have the ancient zords in our possession, we just need Kat to get the Power Coins from the rangers. Then we can take over Angel Grove." He turned to Goldar, who stood dutifully at his side. "Gather Rito and Scorpina, make sure things go the way they're meant to. Rita will be sure that Kat doesn't renege on the plan. She will get the pink ninja coin, take command of the falconzord and we shall have the pink and white rangers under our merciless capture."

He could see it now. Kimberly as his queen and Tommy as his wife's pet. He could use their painful cries and humiliation as his form of entertainment once his use of his slaves were over and done with. He would put a hold over Kimberly and she would do everything that was asked of her, and be the queen that Zedd deserved rather than his wife, who did nothing but screech at him every day. That's what the white ranger was for, he would be of equal torturous entertainment to the witch. She'd finally be able to get her revenge after having had lost her control over the green ranger.

They'd be broken beyond the normal definition of the word.

And after that they would be begging for their own deaths.

Goldar nodded "Yes, your liege, but I must tell you that Scorpina has been...out of commission for the past couple of days," he said. "We have not been able to find her."

"What do you mean you haven't been able to find her?" Zedd growled.

"As I have said my liege, no one has been able to find her. However, Rito and I will be sure to look for her as we make sure our part of the plan goes well, as we have to be sure that the ancient zords will function to the best abilities to destroy the rangers."

"Let Scopina know once I see her that she will be severely punished."

"I'll let her know."

Goldar turned on his heel and left the balcony of the Lunar Palace.

Zedd's message had already been delivered.


	27. Falling Down

**Chapter 27**

_Falling Down_

* * *

The peaceful sounds of the running shower were interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door. Avalon brushed her hair back and held her hands over her face, before stepping back from the stream of water that cascaded towards her. At the sink, Bailey quickly spat into the basin before turning towards the door with a yell of "what?" that mixed in with her sisters.

"I have to brush my teeth," Billy called back. "Are you going to be much longer?"

"So just come in and brush your teeth," Bailey replied. She leaned back into the mirror and checked her teeth, making a sound of frustration when she noticed that there were still Oreo bits back in her wisdom teeth, and started to brush once more.

"I can go when you're done."

The orange ranger let out a light sigh before poking her head out from around the curtain. "Just come in, Smurf. It's not a big deal." She raised an eyebrow as the door slowly cracked open and the blue ranger stuck his head inside, a hand covering his eyes.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes!" Came the unanimous reply. Avalon rolled her eyes before ducking back behind the curtain, continuously running her hands over her hair. "Clearly you're an only child, Smurf. Otherwise you'd be used to people barging in on you in the bathroom."

Billy held his hands up and started to back away, but the purple ranger reached out and grabbed onto his sleeve, holding him still at the sink, shoving his toothbrush towards him. She smiled to herself as Billy shrugged and leaned towards the mirror, starting to brush his teeth. "You're right about that," he mumbled through the mouthful of foam.

"Seriously, you have to lighten up." Reaching out, the orange ranger turned off the water before sticking her hand outside of the curtain and taking the towel the purple ranger handed towards her. She wrapped it around herself before stepping out of the tub, brushing her wet strands of hair over her shoulders. Catching the blue ranger's gaze in the mirror, she smirked as his eyes lowered for a moment and he looked away. "I mean, I understand that we all got our powers for a special reason, but I'm starting to think that your color is blue because you're a killjoy." She patted him on the shoulder before leaving the bathroom and heading into the room that she and Bailey shared, closing the door behind her.

She changed into her bathing suit and her clothes overtop, starting to brush her hair when her phone started to ring. Leaning over, she picked it up and brought it to her ear. "You have a collect call form an inmate at the Angel Grove city jail, would you accept the charges?"

"Yes, please," Avalon replied, sitting down on her bed. "Thank you." She waited as the phone rang for a few more seconds before it was connected. "Please tell me that you're calling to complain about showering there because that would literally make my life."

Chase snorted so loudly that Avalon could practically see the image of him rolling his eyes in her head. "You wish," he remarked. "More like I'm afraid of the rampant foot fungus. I have some news for you, though. A Viper got brought in here a few days ago, extradited from New York or something, but I had asked about Summer and Skye as I knew that would be the place they were headed and he said they hadn't seen them."

"Huh." The orange ranger moved her lower jaw to the side. She sighed, lowering her head. "Well, I guess that proves I'm actually going crazy." Bringing a hand up, she rubbed her forehead as the words sank into her head. If they really weren't around, then she had to have been hallucinating or something. Maybe it was some sort of plan that Rita and Zedd cooked up that was actually starting to work because by now she was wondering just how much longer it'd be until she completely cracked. "And you're absolutely sure that they haven't been around?"

"Positive."

"Hmm." She paused. "That's not the only reason why you called is it?"

"No, actually...I wanted to let you know that they've set a date for my trial. It's not for a while yet, but I wanted you to know that it won't be much longer until you have to testify. Your friends might have to do so as well; you'd have to ask your lawyer, I don't know for sure."

Avalon rested her hand against her forehead. She thought for a long moment, trying to figure out what to say in response. It was a day that she didn't think was actually going to come anytime soon, or ever as far as she was concerned. She knew what the justice system could be like and how long it would take for some of the biggest trials could take to finally come to fruition. But now…now at some point in the future she was going to have to sit up in that witness stand or whatever it was called and tell whomever was the ones that were going to be sitting within the trial all of the things she had done, everything she had participated in under Chase's ruling, things she had done in her own time back when she as a Viper. Things she had never told anyone, not even her sister, she was going to have to say, otherwise if she lied, that would make things ten times worse. But on the other hand, if she told the truth, she would be branded a squealer.

Or worse, in some cases, a narc. She had thought about all of it before, when she had gone to speak to Lt. Stone and Jason's father the first time and after having optioned to take a plea bargain she had been aware there was a chance things were going to be thrown back in her face, and yet, she knew that what was more important was getting out and cutting all ties with her past in the gang. Now the time had come so that she was going to have to face it all again. But if that mean that the High Flyers had a chance of being taken down as well, to make the streets of Angel Grove even a little bit safer, she was all for it.

 _God, being a ranger really has changed me,_ she thought, shaking her head. Finally, she brought her phone back to her ear and said weakly, "Thanks for letting me know."

"I thought it was the best thing to do." He paused. "And, when all is said and done, I want you to know that I'm not going to contact you."

Hearing the door to her room open, Avalon looked up to see Bailey frantically motioning towards her. She held up a hand and Bailey huffed a little before walking into the room. "But you're calling me now. I mean, I know that you make your own decisions, Chase, but your double-standard thing can be really tiresome sometimes, yeah?" At the mention of his name, Bailey's eyes widened and she shuffled closer, trying to hear what it was that was being said.

"I know." He lowered his voice. "I guess I just wanted you to be the first to know. And to let you know that if anything does come through here about Summer and Skye I'll let you know. In many ways they're just harmless followers, if anything I'd be more surprised if they suddenly joined the High Flyers." He then paused. "I wouldn't rule that out if I were you."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, mate. I have to get going, I've got some plans today that I don't intend to miss."

"Is that a dig towards me?"

"Maybe a little. Only because you deserve a lot more than that, honestly." Chase hummed but didn't otherwise reply. "I…guess I'll talk to you soon. Hoo roo." She hung up the phone and turned to Bailey, who eyed her with suspicion, leaning back away from the phone. "Chase has a trial date set up soon. It's not anything we have to worry about right now but…"

Bailey sucked in a quiet breath, before looking away. She had thought it was to happen at some point, especially if things were to ever completely go away. But to know it would be so soon, especially if there were some things she was going to say that would be against her sister? It was more than she could even bear to think about. Thankfully, there were more pressing matters to worry about for the moment. Such as…the people waiting for them down in the living room.

"There's something else to think about, Sis," Bailey said, grabbing her sister's attention. Her dark eyes swam with anxiety. "Mum and Dad are downstairs."

"Both of them?" Avalon raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Together?"

Bailey chuckled. "Yeah, I thought that, too, but there's someone else with them." She grabbed onto her sister and pulled the orange ninja ranger to her feet. "You 're not going to believe who." She turned on her heel and the sisters left the room and went down to the living room. Bailey glanced over at Avalon, noticing when she came to a sudden stop, her eyes resting on the blonde girl that sat on the couch, listening as David explained the courses he taught at Angel Grove State University.

"Cadence!" Ellie beamed and got off of the couch. The orange ranger went over to her mother and gave her a warm hug. "It's so nice to see you." Framing her daughter's face, she looked down at her. "And you must've gotten taller."

Avalon laughed lightly. "Thanks for being patronizing, mum, but I think we both know that at this point I'm not going to get any taller." She waved a hand. "But no worries, I make up for it." She hugged her mother once more before turning to her father, hesitating a moment, before going over and giving him a hug as well. She hadn't spoken to him since she, Bailey, and the rangers and their classmates had left Australia after their trip. It was when he had come clean about everything he had chosen to do in his life, the choices that had Avalon and Bailey end up where they were, the choices that caused his personal life to fall apart and alienated so many around him as his career had taken off.

"Hey Dad," She greeted him. "How ya going?"

"As well as can be expected," Captain Mitchell replied. "Even better, actually." He cleared his throat before turning over towards the couch and motioning towards the blonde girl that sat quietly. She stood up and slowly walked over to Captain Mitchell's side. Avalon studied her for a moment before her eyes widened in recognition. She turned her gaze to Billy, who sat quietly in an armchair across from his father, watching the exchange. "I want you to meet Dana, your sister."

Avalon turned her attention back to Dana, eyes narrowing for a moment. Dana gave her a small smile as the two stared at each other, seeming to fall into a similar sense of awe. The orange ninja ranger took in the blonde girl, slightly tilting her head to the side as she did so. Thin, beautiful found face and what seemed to be a tough interior mixed in with her overtly sweet exterior. As a matter of fact, just by looking at her she reminded Avalon of a mixture of herself in Bailey in a way, despite not knowing her at all.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Dana said, taking another step towards her. "I'm sorry if this is such a surprise to you two," she motioned over to Bailey, who stood by her mother's side. "But…I found out about this whole thing…and I couldn't wait to meet you two. You see, it was my idea that we come out here, I suppose we should've called first, but I couldn't wait much longer."

Avalon took a deep breath, trying to figure her own mess of feelings. One part of her was suddenly very angry that her father and half-sister had suddenly appeared out of the woodwork acting like nothing had happened with them otherwise, but another part of her was curious to know what her half-sister was like. Ever since she had found out about hers and Ryan's—who she noticed Dana hadn't mentioned—existence there was a tiny part of her that wanted to see if they had anything in common other than their shared parentage. Now that she had the chance, she was afraid that things would turn out to be too good to be true.

Finally, she made her decision by giving a small smile and holding out her hand. "Hi Dana, it's nice to meet you, too. I'm Avalon." She turned to Bailey and held out her hand, allowing the purple ninja ranger to take it and step up to her sister's side, suddenly appearing younger than the age of thirteen. "And this is Bailey." She then tilted her head towards her mother. "Or as my Mum insists Cadence and Abigail."

"Hi." Bailey waved.

"And that's David Cranston and his son, Billy," Bailey continued, motioning to them. "We've been living with them for a while before…" she trailed off. "Well, I guess that's an even longer story than you're willing to sit through."

"Yes, my…well, _our_ father has mentioned wanting to speak with Billy about some sort of project that he has been working on," Dana said, turning to face the blue ranger, who's eyebrows rose in interest. Then all eyes turned towards Captain Mitchell, who suddenly appeared uncomfortable.

"Yes, well, I understand that you all were about to head off to the lake," he said, quickly changing the subject. "And, as it is, we have yet to check into our hotel rooms." He turned back to Billy, who got up from the chair and moved towards the door. "Though when you have the time I would love to speak with you about my project. I believe you are one of the people that can lift it off the ground and bring it forward."

Billy blinked in surprised before a smile worked its way onto his face. Despite the discomfort that was evident through many of the faces that were in the room. Through his research on Captain Mitchell shortly after having met Avalon he fell upon the research articles, papers, and dissertation that he had produced over his career and found that he worked well throughout the scientific and mathematical fields before having become a firefighter and then going on to become a member of the government. If it was something that he wanted Billy's help on, it had to be something really big, pertaining to the research he had implied to be working on when he and the rangers were back in Australia.

"I'd love to sit down and talk with you about the project you're working on at another time, Captain Mitchell, but as you had said before, we had plans to go off to the lake." The blue ninja ranger then turned to Dana. "We'd really enjoy it if you came along. We can show you some of the sights of Angel Grove as we go along."

"Yeah!" Bailey agreed, eyes lighting up. "It'll be fun! All of our friends are going to be there and you can meet them, too!" Avalon smiled down at her little sister, that was definitely Bailey. She was the only one that the orange ranger knew that was immediately able to warm up to someone, always giving them a chance until they proved to her they weren't to be trusted. Other than Chase anyway, as Avalon remembered correctly. The purple ninja ranger had been completely against the guy being her sister's friend as soon as they met. But that was a long time ago.

"Oh." Dana looked surprised and glanced over at her father, who nodded encouragingly at her, then smiled. "That sounds great, but…I'm really tired, we came straight here after our flight. And we still need to check into the hotel… but thank you for asking."

"We're going to be in Angel Grove for a while, yeah," Ellie said. "So we'll all have plenty of time to catch up with each other." She turned to David and grasped his hands, shaking them. "Thank you again for looking after our girls as…everything gets sorted out with them. I know I've said it a lot the last time I was there, but it really does mean a lot."

"You're welcome," David replied with a smile. He thought for a moment. "Why don't I accompany you all to the hotel? I can show you some sights along the way and after that we can get to know each other better. I'm sure there are some questions that you have as…my wife, my son, and I have been looking after your daughters."

At first it didn't seem that Captain Mitchell was going to respond, and then he turned towards David and grasped the man's hand, giving it a firm shake. "Thanks for your offer, we would enjoy that." He placed his hands on Dana's shoulders and turned her towards the door. "We're staying at the hotel a few miles away from here. We'd enjoy it if you could join us for dinner."

"We'll be there," Avalon agreed. She stayed behind as the group started to leave the room then grabbed the back of Billy's tank-top, holding him into place. "Not that I don't think it's admirable, and even a bit amazing, that you want to help my Dad with whatever convoluted thing he's come up with this time, but are you a few sheep short of a station?"

Billy's face screwed up in confusion. "What?"

A light chuckle escaped the orange ranger's lips. "I mean, are you crazy?" Billy's confused expression changed to one of complete befuddlement to the point that Avalon nearly grasped her hair in frustration towards her boyfriend. "Do you know what'll happen if you subject yourself to a few minutes alone with my Dad? He's going to reduce you to a quivering pile of goo. I've seen it before. My last boyfriend"—she quickly held up a hand—"before Chase, was scared away from a few minutes of questions from him."

"He doesn't even know that we're dating."

"He does. Trust me, he does. My Dad knows everything." Avalon lowered her head. _Maybe not everything, but as much as he needs to know._ "And while he may have already done his research on you, he's going to want to know even more…and in a good cop-bad cop sort of way."

"Well, if that's the case then…I can handle it." Billy shrugged before sliding his hands into his pockets. "If he wants to know more about me it's because he wants to be sure I'm right for you. Besides, if I put up with your constantly calling me 'Smurf' and that you believe there is nothing worse than having to listen to me try to explain our science homework, I think I can handle a few questions from your dad."

The orange ranger raised an eyebrow. "So you're not worried at all?"

Billy's eyes shifted. "No."

"Even knowing that he probably knows how to knock you out with one hit?"

Billy grimaced. "Now that you mention it…" he turned away, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, if you're anything like him then that punch is going to be enough to at least tickle." He flashed a smile her way and practically skipped out of the living room as the orange ranger blinked in surprise.

Reaching out, Avalon poked him in the back before hurrying after him. "You're going to pay for that one." She fell into step beside him and brought her right foot up and twisted it to the side, kicking him in the butt then looped her arm through his. "One thing I can say for sure, though. I sure will miss you when he gets through with you."

Billy laughed and gave her a kiss on the side of the head.

* * *

What was going to be the best way to get to the power coin? The thought continuously swirled through Kat's head as she sat in the backseat of Tommy's car, staring a burning hole in the back of the pink ranger's head. It had been so obvious for Tommy to be the one to pick her up at her house and take them to the lake, she lived close by. She should've expected that the white ninja ranger would've stopped to pick up his girlfriend first.

That's what she had to remind herself, that Kimberly was his girlfriend. Was it her fault that he was really that attractive? She did her best to remind herself that he wasn't single, that he wasn't an option for her to have as anything other than a friend. But she couldn't help it; he had been so nice to her since she arrived in Angel Grove, so nice even when she wasn't currently under the influence of Rita's magic.

That was the hard part, the part she wasn't sure she could handle much more of that Rita was holding onto her so tightly. In essence, she realized, she had sold her soul to the devil that day she had been walking along the boardwalk back in her home of the Gold Coast. She had just said goodbye to her friends and was walking along the booths and stalls that were set up, killing time before she had to go to her dance class, before running into that booth with the fortune teller.

"Come here, Katherine," the woman inside had called. "Come get your fortune read."

Despite being highly aware that many fortune tellers were fake; she wasn't sure how the woman knew her name. Despite her misgivings, something drew her to the booth and Kat slowly stepped inside. The woman across from her had been covered by a purple sheet that covered everything but her eyes. Her eyes, a light brown, gently glowing, had mesmerized her and Kat couldn't help but sit down on the stool, reaching into her pocket to take out some money.

"No, please. This is a free one," the voice said from underneath the hood. "I know a lot about you Katherine. I know that you enjoy diving."

"Oh…" Kat's shoulders slumped as she tried to keep the memory away. "No…not anymore."

"You aren't currently diving but you still love to dive. Just as much as you love to dance. But there are many sides to you, Katherine, many parts of you that others don't see. You're talented in many areas of your life, at so many different things that you question if there is one thing that you're truly good at." The woman's hands continued to wave around the crystal ball that sat in front of her, and Katherine stared.

Everything that was being said was exactly how she felt. Apart from Diving and dance being two of her greatest passions, she did enjoy doing a lot of other things that she found success with; drawing, painting, singing, course work, nearly everything she tried she was good at. But she couldn't help but wonder what her true calling was what it was that she could set her life to and truly be happy about.

She felt herself lean forward, drawn to the woman and the crystal ball. Her blue eyes bore into the woman's brown ones and she felt herself getting pulled further and further as the seconds passed.

Hypnotized.

"But that's not the only thing that the future holds for you, dear Katherine. There is so much that you can do…for the right price."

Kat blinked in surprise. She hadn't paid in the first place, what was it that she was to do now? Her mouth moved, her throat finding its voice before she could stop herself. "What do I have to do?"

"I see so much happiness and power in your future. Power in all aspects of your life, in your future and what you want to set your heart to. There are only a few things that you have to do, as they don't come to you freely," The woman continued. "I can give you everything you desire if you do something for me first."

Then Kat had leaned back, thinking about what was being said to her. Everything she hoped and desired? Power and happiness in all parts of her life? It was too good to be true. With a patient sigh, Kat stood up and pushed back the stool she had perched herself upon. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sure that you don't mean to be like those other fortune tellers that tell us everything we want to hear, yeah? But I don't think that…this is right for me. I apologize for taking up your time and I'm just going to leave."

Kat turned on her heel and started to leave the tent, but soon found her feet rooted to the floor. She took in a deep breath and tried to pull her right foot off the ground, but found that her muscles wouldn't contract to move. Twisting her head to the side she watched as the woman got to her feet and pulled down her hood to reveal the face of Rita Repulsa. The space witch walked to Kat's front and brought her bony fingers up, clutching her chin.

"I told you I can bring you everything you ever want and you want to turn me down?" She asked.

Kat swallowed thickly. Despite not being able to run, and not having been able to sense anything before, she could tell that he woman wasn't a god person. There was something about her that was a bit off, eerie, more like it.

"Well, what if I told you that I could bring you the most horrific life you've ever had?" She continued. "In return for turning me down." She gently waved her wand back and forth. "I see your father losing his job, your parents getting divorced due to your mother's disappointment…and you…everything in your life falls apart. Everything you know and love will be ripped away, you'll feel the most horrific pain ever. And that'll just be the beginning."

Kat could feel herself shaking. Her knees quivered so hard despite not being able to move her feet. Her skin was clammy and sweat dripped down the sides of her face, lower lip trembling. She had never felt so scared in her life, and the woman had done nothing yet.

"Wh…what do you want me to do?" Kat whispered.

Rita lifted her magic wand and waved it over Kat as swirls of red light started to move around her. Kat gasped loudly as she felt the effects of the magic from the space witch fall over her.

"You belong to me now, Kat," Rita hissed.

And Kat had followed at Rita's every back and call when she was asked. She talked her father into taking that job in America, listened as Rita and Zedd told her everything she needed to know about the power rangers, took in every little detail she was to know about them. But it was something that baffled her all the same. There were many times where Rita left her alone and it was like she was a normal person. When she first ran into Tommy and got to know him, she was Kat Hillard, the normal teenage girl. But when Rita needed her to do something, she was one hundred percent under Rita's spell.

What was making it so that she was able to continuously go in and out of the space witch's grasp? What was it that was keeping her on the precipice at that exact, where half of her was plotting how to rip Kimberly's hair back hard enough so that she could reach down and yank the power coin out of the girl's morpher in enough time to bail out of the car while the other half was excited about going to the lake?

She didn't get a chance to answer for Tommy finally arrived at the lake, pulling into the parking lot. As soon as the car turned off, the white and pink rangers were out of the car, hurrying over to their friends, who were already set up on towels on the beach. And Kat trailed along after them her eyes moving towards the beach. It was then that she felt Rita's grasp lowering until it was gone. She was Kat again, the same Kat that was as afraid of the water as was her namesake. Even standing on the sandy white beach, far enough away from the water that she would have enough time to run if something were to happen.

But what was going to happen?

What was she expecting?

Darkness swept over her. Not the sort of darkness that eliminated all vision and all focus around her, but the sort of darkness that was haunting. The kind that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up when you were sure there was someone looking at you, the kind where you knew someone was about to reach out and touch the back of your neck or grab your shoulder. The one that sent rolling shivers down your spine when a sudden chill moved through your body. That's what Kat felt each and every time Rita's presence came known to Kat. The hard part was knowing there was nothing that could stop her, not when the link between them was too strong.

Everything around her faded away.

The laughter and smiles that came from the rangers and their friends, the conversations that moved by. She was sure she was interacting with them, but she wasn't all there. There was a conversation she was having with Rocky, something that she said while walking along with Kimberly, a quick conversation between her and Avalon and Bailey about things back in Australia; little conversations with all of the rangers. Things she saw in flashes as Rita sat, watching her.

"Kat, are you okay?" Kat jumped and turned to the side to see Jason looking at her in concern, crouching down next to her. His eyebrows furrowed as he reached up and gently tugged on the necklace that sat around his neck. Blinking rapidly, Kat looked around the towels and blankets that were sitting around her. It was filled with empty plates of food that had been completely covered what felt to be only moments before. "Aren't you going to come into the water with us?"

"Oh." Kat's heart sank as she remembered her former years. Her younger self would've been in the water as quickly as the rest of the rangers. As a matter of fact, she would've been the first into the water. Nevertheless her heart thudded as if she just had a bucket of cold water poured over her head at the mere thought. "No," she finally replied. "I…I'm fine here. I'm just going to read."

"Okay." Jason placed his hand on Kat's shoulder before straightening up and moving away once more.

_"Do it now!"_

Rita's voice screeched through Kati's head and her vision turned red, causing her to move on autopilot. She turned to the side and immediately started to root through the bright blue bag to her right. She recognized the bag as Kimberly's despite not having seen it before in her life, she was drawn to it. It was part of her plan, things had to go the way they were meant to. Even as she started to root through the bag she could hear the shouts and cries of Goldar and Rito as they appeared on the beach behind her with their fray of Tenga warriors.

As they made their way down the beach, capturing hostages as they went, Kat reached into the bottom of Kimberly's bag and pulled out the morpher. Upending it, she clasped her palm shut before getting to her feet and walking away from the beach and back to the car where she stopped and waited for the arrival of Rita.

Kat smiled down at her prize.

The Power Coin gleamed in her hand.


	28. The Warning

**Chapter 28**

_The Warning  
_

* * *

Skull shifted the vase of flowers back and forth between his hands before looking over at Bulk, who appeared to be doing his best to stay in control lest the box of chocolates in his hands would be eaten. "Do you think this might be a bit much?" He asked Bulk as the elevator doors in front of them dinged open and they stepped on.

"The chocolates? Yes. Because why would someone who is in the hospital for alcohol poisoning want to eat anything right now." Bulk shifted the box back and forth before reaching out and unwrapping the cellophane that encompassed the decorative box. As Skull watched, his best friend managed to get through three pieces of chocolate before he registered what was happening.

"Bulkie!"

"What?" A piece of chocolate dropped out of Bulk's mouth and he gave Skull and innocent if not indignant smile. "I'm a hardworking man, Skull. A police officer. I beat the streets, arrest people, and take names. I need fuel." Rolling his eyes, Skull shook his head although he smiled a little as he watched Bulk polish off the rest of the box before they arrived at the correct floor.

It was true; the two of them had been working pretty hard at their jobs, not wanting to disappoint anyone in any way. Despite the fact they were still stuck with Lt. Stone on their patrols—though he was sure it was because the man didn't want them to get in any trouble on their own—they did a lot to keep the streets of Angel Grove as safe as they could. So far, other than the call to the house party, they had also stopped drunk drivers, gave speeding tickets, and on some occasions managed to help residents escape as there was a monster attack. It made Skull proud to know he and Bulk had managed to turn their lives around from being common bullies.

But he still felt there was something missing in his life.

Taking the lead, Skull led Bulk down the hallway until they found the correct hospital room and he knocked on the doorframe before going inside. Sharky, who lay quietly amongst the pillows and blankets propped up around her. She turned her head to the side and lifelessly watched as the two police officers came into the room. Nevertheless, she still held onto her guarded tone and narrowed her eyes at the two.

"What are you doing here?" She tried to push herself up, but fell weakly back against the pillows. Her face was pale, blonde hair falling limply around her face compared to the spikes she usually styled it in. Her eyes were a bit puffy with tiredness, face pale as well. She looked like a ghost of her former self. "Don't you have some criminals that you need to arrest?"

"We came to see how you were doing," Skull replied. He held up his flowers before placing them on the bedside table. He frowned, noticing a distinct lack of get well cards or any sort of memento or gift that would signify anyone coming to see her. Turning around, he watched as Bulk finished the box of chocolates and tossed the box into the trashcan. "You were really out of it when we found you at the party. Those guys…" he trailed off as Sharky rolled her eyes and turned her head away.

"That was nothing," she said dismissively. "We were just having fun."

"Sharky." Now she had Bulk's total attention. "You could've _died_. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't. Your blood alcohol level was through the roof. You're in a hospital bed with alcohol poisoning. That's not 'nothing', that's not 'fine'."

Sharky's pale blue eyes flashed for a moment, giving her only a brief moment of what appeared to be life before she said, "you don't know what you're talking about. We were just having a good time. It's not a big deal. Just because you think chasing down the power rangers and playing hero is fun, doesn't mean the rest of us do, too." Picking up her blankets she rolled onto her side, pointing her back towards the two young men who shed used to call her friends.

Skull sighed, loosely crossing his arms as he looked down at her form. Somehow, despite the fact she had continued to hold her head up high, he could see right through her. When she used to run alongside him and Bulk, terrorizing and bullying the other students in the school, she didn't let anyone see how weak she was, how much things other people said to her hurt. She continued to ignore everything around her. And yet, he could clearly see she was more alone than she ever wanted anyone to see her being. Her mother had sent her to live with her aunt and uncle because she was getting in trouble in Angel Grove and now here she was, back in Angel Grove and doing nothing but getting in trouble all over again.

He and Bulk were trained to recognize those sorts of things with people, to try and turn them around before they befell a life of crime. He could see it clearly with her.

"How come no one's come to see you?" He tried changing the subject.

A 'tsk' sound escaped Sharky's mouth as she rolled back towards Bulk and Skull. "What sort of question is that?"

"A good one. Even if we ended up on the hospital at least our mothers would come to see us," Skull pointed out. He grabbed onto the chair that was sitting in the corner of the room and dragged it by her bed, turning it around so that his arms rested on the back of the chair. "I don't think you have anyone in your life that truly cares about you because you've pushed so many of them away throughout the years."

"What do you know?" But there wasn't as much anger in her voice this time around. This time there was a light quiver coming from the back of her throat, as if she had heard it many times before, thought of it herself, and couldn't stand hearing it one more time. Especially from someone that had been so close to her before.

Bulk stood silently in the corner of the room, watching the two with a small smile on his face. He had never seen Skull be so serious about anything before. Though the two of them had the reputation of being silly and getting into so man hi-jinks and messes almost as easily as it was to breathe, he found himself to be a bit more together than Bulk. He was the one that came up with the plans, that got them going, the extroverted one, while Skull followed along behind him, chiming in whenever the time was right, but otherwise being quiet and allowing Bulk to tell him what to do.

"I know that the worst thing you can do in life is go through it without friends," Skull continued. He motioned over to Bulk, who smiled a little. "Which is why I'm glad to have Bulkie, here. I may annoy him from time to time, but he has my back and I have his. He's my best friend." His face softened as he turned back to Sharky. "And I could be your friend, too, just like we used to be. But I'll bring you some more flowers and cards and stuff the next time we come visit you."

"Next time?" Sharky repeated in a whisper.

"Yeah. We can't have you sitting in a hospital all this time and not have anything good to eat. We'll sneak you in some fast food or something." Skull laughed his signature laugh, causing Sharky to smile a little.

Bulk glanced at his watch before clearing his throat, capturing Skull's attention. "I don't mean to interrupt, but our lunch break ends soon and I'm sure Lt. Stone isn't going to be happy if we end up running late. Again."

"I still can't believe that _you two_ became police officers." Shaking her head back and forth, Sharky turned her gaze towards the ceiling. "That's, like, the last thing I would ever think of you becoming. Then again, I never put much stock into the future. I didn't have a future."

"You do, now." Skull reached out and patted her on the hand. "You shouldn't be here that much longer. And after that Bulk and I'll be sure that things are going well for you. We'll see you later." Skull gave her another smile before getting up from his seat and following Bulk out of the room.

The two walked along in silence for a few moments until he noticed Bulk doing his best to hide his snickering, then glanced over at him. One their eyes met, Skull gazed at his friend in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing, Skull, it's just…" Bulk put his arm around Skull's shoulders and pretended to wipe away a tear. "You're really growing up."

"Shut up."

* * *

As the rangers arrived at the lake they immediately staked an empty spot on the beach and put down their towels and beach toys. Rocky arrived in his car, carrying a massive picnic basket out of the trunk as he went. Even Adam and Aisha, who were used to the red ranger's appetite, stared in awe as he walked across the sand carrying the basket over his head with little effort.

"I know that you like to eat, Rocky, but this is ridiculous," Aisha remarked, going over to help him put the basket on the ground before taking his beach blanket and unraveling it next to her own.

"Yeah, Rocky, did you take your whole pantry?" Kimberly agreed, leaning over to look into the basket. Her stomach growled loudly and she did her best to occupy herself with the contents of the basket for anyone to notice the intense frown that crossed her face. "Scratch that, you've got a five course meal going on there."

"Yeah, well." Rocky blushed as he shrugged. "You know my Mom, she likes to make sure that we have everything we need and in my family, food is the most important." He then motioned to Aisha, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And she wanted me to be sure that I brought her churros and flan because she knows you like them so much." He flashed her a smile, causing the yellow ninja ranger to blush—thought it was thankfully hidden against her dark skin—and ducked her head away. "So I hope you enjoy them." He then motioned to the rest of the rangers who all exchanged amused glances as they unpacked their things. "You guys, too. Mami says that she'll be glad to make food for us anytime."

"I might take you up on that, for our next movie night," Avalon commented. "Just so long as I'm not the one that's slaving away in the kitchen away. Especially when my last cake turned out to be a disaster." When she got groans and laughter in response, she threw her hands up into the air. "I was trying to make a sweet cake, so sue me."

"I should considering all of the dental work I should've gotten from the instant cavities," Tommy teased in reply, reaching out a hand and ruffling her hair. The orange ninja ranger brought up her hands and pushed the white ninja ranger away from her before sticking her tongue out at him. "Okay, now that we have all of this food, do you guys want to eat first?"

"Please," Jason said. He brought his hands up and rubbed his stomach. "I've been looking forward to grilling up some burgers and laying out in the sun today." As if to prove his point, he stretched out on his red blanket and put his arms behind his head, angling his face towards the sun. The rangers and Kat laughed as the opened their blankets and towels, around on the sand.

Bailey brought a hand up to shield her face as Avalon took their possession out of a drawstring bag and started to set them up around her. A frown must've been on her face for Adam turned towards her, pausing in putting on sun block. "What's the matter, Bay?"

She thought for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to explain, but figured it was a good idea. These were her friends and they would understand. There were a lot of things in her life that she was starting to question and Dana, her father, and her mother being around had complicated things a little bit.

"Does this have to do with Fred?" He continued before the purple ranger could reply, immediately causing her to give him the side-eye. "I'm sure he would've been here if he—"

"My life doesn't revolve around Fred," She snapped before regaining her composure, noticing the stares the other rangers sent her way. "It's just…my Dad, Mum, and Dana have come to Angel Grove because Dana wanted to meet us."

"Dana?" Kat asked, tilting her head to the side.

"She's, as we've recently found out, is our half-sister," Avalon explained. "It's a long story. Though I'm sure you might've heard some of it considering the work our Dad has done back in Australia on his many government projects." She shrugged, unable to talk about everything he did.

Kat thought for a moment then nodded, she _had_ remembered seeing his name in the paper for some sort of an award or recognition for something. Then the blonde Australian let out a light sigh, shoulders slumping as she did so. What was she even doing there at the lake when he knew she wasn't going to be going into the water or anywhere near it?

"Anyway, they're back here and Dad was saying something about getting Billy's help on a project that he's working on." She kicked at the sand, placing her hands on her hips. "I guess I just don't get why Dad didn't ask me to help him," Bailey admitted. "I mean, I've been working in the Command Center since I knew that you guys were rangers, since before _I_ was a ranger…"

"He hasn't seen you in a long time, Bay, he probably still thinks of you as a little girl," Tommy reassured her. "You and Fred have worked beside Billy and really help him in the Command Center. If he can't see what it is that you truly are very talented in the work that you've done."

"Right," Billy agreed. "And I'm not going to help him with his project without yours or Fred's help. We're a team." Bailey beamed up at the blue ninja ranger and nodded before plopping down onto her towel to allow Avalon to rub sun block onto her back.

"So are we eating first?" Adam asked.

When he got the unanimous answer he nodded and turned to his bag and started to take out deflated pool toys, only stopping when he spotted Kimberly stripping down to her bathing suit. He didn't intend to stare, not like the way she was probably used to many boys looking at her, but he then realized how sick she truly was. He could nearly see each one of her individual ribs, her hip bones poked out more than ever, and her arms and legs looked thinner than ever before. He watched as Tommy reached out and wrapped his arms around her before playfully wiping sunscreen onto her face. The white ninja ranger didn't seem to notice how small Kim was getting, or that he didn't want to believe she was sick.

"Yikes." Hearing the low whistle beside him, Adam turned towards Jason, who lifted himself up onto an arm and watched Tommy and Kim as well. "I thought something was wrong, I didn't think it was this bad." Noticing Adam looked at him, he sat up, crossing his legs. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know." The black ninja ranger shrugged. "I saw her throwing up once, I asked her about it and she gave some pretty credibly excuses. But I think there's a lot more than what she's been telling anyone." He gently shook his head. "I have no idea what would drive her to do something like this."

"I might." Jason's eyes narrowed as he continued to watch the pink and white rangers frolic through the sand without a care in the world. "Years ago there was a girl that ran along with Bulk and Skull named Sharky. She picked on nearly every girl that came across her path while Bulk and Skull basically picked on everyone. I think she was jealous of Skull's crush on Kim or something, I don't know for sure, but a little bit before I left she said something to Kim that really upset her."

"What'd she say?"

"Essentially she called Kim fat. I didn't think she would ever take that to heart." Jason shook his head as he watched a shocked expression slide over the black ranger's face. "But I guess she did." He lowered his sunglasses back over his face. "I'm just trying to find a good time to talk to her about it but there hasn't been anything."

"I get what you mean. We're just going to have to do it soon."

Jason nodded in agreement.

Once Rocky had all of the food passed out for the rangers they tucked into the food, taking in the sunshine and the great weather for time to themselves. Once they had finished their food and waited long enough before getting into the water, under Jason's insistence and Avalon's annoyance, the rangers changed into their bathing suits before heading towards the water.

Noticing that Kat hadn't moved from her spot on the beach blanket, he went back over to her and crouched down by her side. "Hey Kat, aren't you coming?" He wanted to be sure that she had a good time at the beach that day. He knew it was hard for anyone to move to a new place, after having seen how Tommy's arrival at Angel Grove had gone as well as when Avalon and Bailey first moved to the city. It was even harder to try and get into their group.

He had noticed the slight difference in his 'job' them as he wasn't a ranger anymore. Now his job was to be sure that no one found out their secret and to get everyone nearby to safety. If Kat were going to be around them, they had to know that she could be trusted, that she could keep their secret along with the rest of them.

Jason frowned when Kat remained silent, staring out at the water ahead of her. Jason followed her gaze but didn't see anything and yet the vague sense of terror was evident in her eyes. Reaching out a hand, he waved it in front of her face. "Kat, are you okay?" He watched as she jumped, trying to compose herself as she turned to him. "Aren't you going to come into the water with us?"

Kat's eyes lit up for a moment, and then darkened as she shook her head. "Oh. No, I…I'm fine here. I'm just going to read." Reaching to the side she patted the book that was nestled in the bag she brought with her. "I just got it and I'm really excited to get started.

"Okay." Jason stood up and started towards the water. "If you're sure." He raced to the water, going up to his knees before diving in, allowing the cool water to wash over him. He took a few strokes over to the boat that Rocky, Adam, Tommy, and Billy had commandeered and quickly pulled himself into it, rolling over the side. "Any direction we're headed?" He picked up the oar that was at his feet and stuck it in the water, being careful not to hit Tommy's with his forward stroke.

"To that tiny island over there," Rocky called. He lay back in the stern of the boat, arms draped across his chest. His distended belly showed he had eaten well for lunch that day. "Take your time, though, this is really comfortable."

The black ninja ranger made a face before reaching into the water behind him and splashing the red ninja ranger across the face, who sputtered and quickly shot back up, wiping water off his face as Billy, Tommy, and Jason laughed loudly, pulling themselves through the water. "Wow, man, you just missed that really cool fish that just jumped out of the water," Adam said innocently.

"That's alright, I caught the tail end."

The boys continued to paddle towards the water over to the island, noticing that Kimberly, Aisha, and Bailey were in a massive paddle boat, their legs working amongst the peddles that propelled them forward, and Avalon stood on the surfboard that she had brought with them, moving herself along with a massive paddle. Grinning to himself, Jason waited until they were close enough and reached out with his paddle, poking the orange ninja ranger hard in the side.

She let out a cry of surprise before falling backwards off of the board, splashing into the water. The rangers laughed as she resurfaced, grabbing onto the board and swinging herself up, before taking her own paddle and shoving hard at the side of the boat.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that, Avie!" Jason called to her as Tommy and Billy shifted their paddles and continuously splashed her with water.

"Don't just bloody sit there!" She called to the girls as they continued to laugh. "Help me!" Bailey immediately jumped into the water and climbed onto the back of her sister's board, and splashed the boys, hoping to blind them enough to disorient them. Kimberly and Aisha slid down from the paddle boat and swam to the side, pressing their hands against it and pushing hard.

Then the rangers were in a battle of fending off each other's paddles and hands as they tried to knock the boys' boat over. Eventually, the girls managed to slowly turn the boat over, sending the boys into the water, causing a water war to start between the rangers. Their laughter and shrieks filled the air as they continued to splash water about before Aisha twisted around, hearing the sound of a scream.

Shielding her face from the sun, she squinted towards the beach and gasped when she spotted a flock of Tengas racing across the beach, flapping their wings and squawking loudly as they went.

"Guys!" She shouted, pointed towards the beach. "Quick! The Tengas!"

"Let's go!" Tommy declared and he rangers started to frantically swim towards shore. He reached the beach first as the rest of the rangers came up behind him. Jason came up to his side and the white ninja ranger grabbed onto his shoulder. "Make sure everyone gets out of here safely," he said. "We'll take care of the Tengas."

"You got it," Jason replied and went off to do as he was told.

Tommy then waited for his friends to reach his side before explaining what their strategy was going to be. "We need to get rid of these Tengas and make sure no one's hurt." They nodded and he nodded back before they all did the simultaneous arm movements that would bring forth their suits. "Ninja ranger power!"

The rangers split up and as Tommy went after Goldar and Rito, the rest going after the Tengas. Adam leapt high into the air and struck a couple of Tengas in the face with his feet as he did a split. One he landed on the ground he used his frog powers to send a serious of jabs and punches to Tengas faster than the eye could see, bringing them down to his knees. "Let's see how you like this!" Brining his palms together, he split himself into the original version of himself and a cloned version and the two fought against the Tengas, knocking them to the ground.

Aisha flipped over a Tenga before she found herself encircled by them. Spinning in a circle she defended herself from the blows that were being sent her way from the sharp beaks and heavy wings that flew her way. She managed to keep herself from being hit for a few moments before a wing slapped her on the back, sending her onto the sandy beach. Growling, Aisha stood her ground and watched as the Tengas moved closer to her. Behind her mask she smirked as the Tengas then moved forward and tried to beat her down with even harder hits of their wings, looking at each other in confusion as they tried again and again.

"Have to do better than that!" Aisha flipped backwards over the head of the Tengas and grabbed onto an inflatable tube that was left over. She slid it over the head of a Tenga and kicked it hard in the back. "Surf's up!" She called as the Tenga flew forward and landed in the shallow end of the beach, sputtering as it tried to get back to its feet. She then twisted around and shot hard kicks to the faces of the Tengas, causing them to crash onto the ground on their backs.

Tommy used his falcon powers to continuously soar around the Tengas that got in his way, slashing them out of the air with quick strikes of his hands. When they fell towards the ground, he would swoop down on top of them and land on their backs, being sure they fell straight to the ground where Rocky was waiting for them. The red ninja ranger beat his fists against his chest before grabbing the Tengas and heaving them through the air. He followed up with a serious of high-jump kicks that sent them back in the opposite direction and finished them off with a punch to the face.

Billy picked up a soft foam bat that had been left by one of the beach goers and spun it around his hands much like he would with a long bow staff or a pair of nun chucks before using it to fend off the Tengas that moved close to him. He spun around as he continuously waved the bat, striking the bird monsters in the beaks and the chest. Two of them grabbed onto his arms, holding him still and he leapt up, bringing up his feet and wrapped his ankles around the neck of the nearby Tenga. Twisting his legs aside, he followed his with body and flipped the three Tengas to the ground. Crouching low, like a wolf, he lashed out with his feet in a series of judo sweeps low-level kicks.

Avalon punched the ground as hard as she could, causing a ripple to form through the sand, knocking the Tengas off their feet. She then crouched low, reminiscent of a tiger as Bailey leapt overhead, sticking out her foot and hitting a Tenga in the face. She flipped backwards and the two fell into the same stance, arms up over their heads and a foot hovering above the ground. The orange and purple ninja rangers looked at each other for a moment before they launched into a series of moves that matched each other in synchronization. They continued to move in unison, even the punches and kicks that knocked Tengas to the ground and high jumps that faked out the Tengas, giving the sisters enough time to do a judo-sweep to knock the rest over.

Kimberly had been fighting against the Tengas pretty well, using her graceful agility from the power of the crane to avoid any attacks that came her way. She had just flipped a Tenga over when the world slanted in front of her. Bringing a hand up to her forehead, she fell to her knees, using the other one to hold the Tengas at bay. _Oh God, this isn't good,_ she thought with a sense of foreboding. It was just like the dizziness that had hit her when they were back on Phaedos. But this was much worse.

This dizziness kept her from being able to move. From being able to keep her bearings. Something was surely wrong, all of her energy drained out of her at a moment's notice, hands turning clammy as her skin immediately turned cold. She started to shake, shivering despite how warm it was that day. And yet, she wasn't going to give up or allow any weakness to get in the way of saving Angel Grove.

"…If…if you know what's good for you…you'll back off," she managed to get out, pushing herself back to her feet. "What's going on?" She murmured. The Tengas swarmed around her and grabbed onto her arms and legs, lifting her up into the air. "Let go of me! You bird brains are going to pay for this!" She kicked and flailed as hard as she could, only stopping when the Tengas lost their grip and she went slamming to the ground. Losing her breath, Kimberly laid on her side as a bright pink glow slid over her and she de-powered.

"Kim!" She looked up and watched as Jason hurried back across the sand towards the fallen pink ranger. He fell into a fighting stance and watched as the Tengas swarmed around him. _Good thing I didn't stop my martial arts training._ He fell into his familiar routine of punches and kicks that sent the Tengas back away from him and the pink ninja ranger. One they were driven off, he turned to his pseudo-little sister and pulled her up into a sitting position. Her head lolled back and forth and she did her best to keep her eyes on Jason, failing. "Kim…Kim. Wake up. C'mon, you're okay."

Tommy made sure all of the Tengas were fended off before placing his hand on his chest. "Power down!" He and the rangers threw off their suits before running across the sand to their friends. "Jase! What happened to Kim?"

"Is she alright?" Bailey asked anxiously as the others crowded around, trying to catch their breath from the difficult fight.

"I don't know." Swallowing thickly, Jason shook his head. He allowed the white ninja ranger to take his place to hold up Kimberly before standing up, dusting off his hands. "I went back onto the beach to be sure everyone was getting away safely. I lost sight of Kat, and figured you guys could use some help. I don't know what's wrong; she just started to pass out."

Tommy nodded and brushed his girlfriend's hair form her face. It was then he got a good look at her, noticing how her collarbones stuck out against her skin. Breathing hitching in his throat, he continued to gently all her name. "Kim…wake up."

Eyes fluttering, the pink ranger turned her head to the side, letting out a quiet moan. Then her eyes opened and she looked up at her boyfriend. "Tommy," she managed to say.

"Tommy." Adam's voice caught his attention and he nodded down at her. "Look at her hands. Something's going on."

The rangers looked down at their fallen friend, noticing that a pink wave steadily washed over her body in five second intervals. It appeared that she was having some sort of energy anomaly, something neither of them could pinpoint the problem of.

"It appears she's experiencing some sort of energy drain," Billy noted, moving to Kimberly's side and gently taking hold of her hand. He lifted it up and examined the waves of power before dropping it once more. "We have to get her to Zordon. If my assumption is correct, something must've happened to her Power Coin. These new coins are connected to our human life source, without it…"

"Are you saying she's dying?" Avalon asked. Her voice hitched at the end, coming to the realization of her best friend's plight. Looking over at Kim her face crumpled slightly, suddenly coming to the realization that it may be true. The thing she and the other rangers had refused to believe might be coming true, that no matter how hard they tried, there was still a chance of them to face death as they did their best to keep the city safe.

But for it to happen to someone like Kim, who radiated happiness and excitement throughout all of the other rangers, it couldn't have come to a least deserving person.

"She's not going to die," Jason said, placing his hand on the orange ninja ranger's shoulder. "We're not going to let that happen." Billy stood up from Kimberly's side, dusting off his hands on the side of his swim trunks. He glanced over at Jason and Avalon, his eyebrow twitching upwards for a moment. "I think we should take her back to the Command Center to be sure everything's okay."

"He's right," Rocky said. "If there's anyone that'll know what's going on, it's Alpha and Zordon."

"I guess so," Aisha agreed. She took a step back so that Tommy could life Kimberly up into his arms. Nodding Jason over, Tommy waited until the former ranger was at his side and the three teleported back to the Command Center. "C'mon, let's get our stuff and see what's going on." Running her hands over the other, the yellow ninja ranger turned on her heel and started across the sand. "Oh, I hope she's going to be okay."

"She's going to be fine, 'Sha," Rocky reassured her. When she gave him an unconvincing smile, he grabbed onto her arm and pulled her to a stop. "I promise. She's going to be okay. We're not going to let anything happen to her."

"You can't promise that, Rocky. None of us can!" Aisha threw her hands up then slapped them against her sides. "None of us know if we're going to come back from each and every battle. And nothing like this has happened before. Rita and Zedd are getting stronger by the day and we don't know what we're doing."

"Listen to me." The red ninja ranger grabbed Aisha's face in his hands, looking into her eyes. "We're going to figure out what's going on and we're going to help Kim and we're going to stop Rita and Zedd with whatever plan they've cooked up this time. I know we can and I know _you_ know we can do it. You have to do this for Kim and it's not like you're going to be alone. The rest of us are going to be right there with you. I promise."

The yellow ranger nodded, lowering her gaze for a moment before looking up at Rooky one more. "Thanks Rocko," she said gently. "That really helped."

"You're welcome, Aisha."

She smiled at him and Rocky smiled back. Their mutual gaze was only broken when Adam and Bailey walked over, giving them their bags. Aisha quickly stepped back, once again glad that it was impossible for anyone to detect a blush on her cheeks. Once everything was gathered together, Billy caught their attention as he looked through Kimberly's backpack.

"Her power coin is gone," he announced to the shock of the other rangers. "It must've been the plan all along. Give us a distraction and have the chance to steal a coin." He shook his head. "Perfect timing while we were out in the water."

"It's the first time Rita and Zedd managed to do anything right," Adam said without a hint of humor in his voice. "Who would've thought it would be something like this?" HE crossed hi arms, pushing out his lower jaw. Gazing around at the rangers' faces was a collection of angry and worried expressions.

"We can't do anything about it while standing here," Bailey pointed out. "Let's go to the Command Center and see what's going on." The rangers nodded and brought up their communicators, teleporting back to the Command Center. They arrived to find Kimberly sitting on the ground, appearing better than she had moments before, but still a bit tired.

"Kim!" Aisha kneeled down next to the pink ranger. "Are you okay?"

Kimberly put on a brave face, nodding as she took a hold of Aisha's hand. "I'm fine, Aisha. Everything's okay."

With that, the rangers turned to Tommy and Jason, who stayed silent, before turning to Alpha and Zordon, who had been waiting for the rangers to arrive. "Unfortunately it appears that Kimberly's crane power coin has fallen into Rita's and Zedd's hands," Zordon said. "That was their plan all along, to get the power of the power coin and use it for malicious intent."

"We believe they've found the ancient zords of Zordnia and are planning to use the power from the power coin to gain access to them," Alpha added. "Rangers, we need to get that Power Coin back. Without it, Kimberly's life force is at its all time low, making her susceptible to any attacks that come your way."

"So what do we do?" Avalon asked, hands clenched into fists, already ready for another fight.

"For now you'll have to use your coins to give her enough energy to continue to morph and fight alongside the rest of you," Zordon explained. "But she'll have to use her power sparingly while she fights or else she'll deplete what energy she has left."

"In other words," Jason said. "We have to get her power coin back before it's too late."

"Story of our life," Bailey said with a sigh.


	29. Green With Guilt II

**Chapter 29**

_Green With Guilt II_

* * *

Bailey scratched the back of her neck as she stared down at the notebook in front of her. Despite it being a nice day at the park, she couldn't focus on that, there were other important things that preoccupied her mind. There were scribbled all over the page, each pertaining to potential theories of what had happened to Kimberly's Power Coin, what it meant for her as a ranger, and what they could possibly do to keep her as a ranger. There were scribbles, arrows, and diagrams moving back and forth along the page that didn't make any sense to her in the slightest. Not that it had even when she had the original list she was working with.

But her mind was all jumbled.

The pink ranger was like another big sister to her, having taught her how to put on make-up, having given her a lot of encouragement with her first date with Fred, being the chaperone with Tommy after Bailey hadn't wanted Av there, so many things that she hadn't had to do. Just thinking about her, or anyone, not being a ranger anymore, made her sick to her stomach.

"Hey Bailey."

The young girl barely glanced up as Fred walked over to her; a small drawstring bag slung over one shoulder. He still wore his signature hat, though this time the brim was turned around to the front, as if to hide his face. "Hey," she murmured in reply, causing Fred to frown and take a step closer to her.

"Please tell me that you don't find homework to be suddenly so interesting. I mean, I know you're smart but since you became a power ranger school has taken a backseat." He crossed his arms and waited as she shifted her hair out of her face and looked up at him. "Don't I at least get a hug?"

Bailey's face immediately turned red and she lowered her head. "Umm." She curled her hands over the top of her notebook, chewing her lower lip. She didn't get it. One moment she wanted nothing more than to be around him and then the next she wasn't sure what to say around him. He made her nervous, even more so than she thought he ever would; to the point where she constantly analyzed everything she did when he was around.

"I'll let you off the hook this time," Fred finally said.

"Gee, thanks." She rolled her eyes, shifting to the side. "So how was camping?"

"It was fun. Dad and I caught a lot of fish and we cooked them for dinner. Though mine were a lot bigger than the ones Dad caught." He laughed. "His were like little sardines. I think he was annoyed that I kept getting more fish than he did. We went swimming and stuff, but the water was really cold. It was a good break from school and everything."

"Sounds like a fun time." But she couldn't muster up the enthusiasm for his trip. At least he was able to drop everything power ranger related and go do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted. She had never been so envious of someone in her entire life. "So while you were out having fun times, my Mum and Dad came to Angel Grove and they brought Dana with them."

Fred's eyes widened. "Really?" He shifted from foot to foot. "How was it? Meeting her I mean. She's your half-sister, right?"

"Right. And it was alright I guess. She's nice. But we didn't really get a chance to talk before we went to the lake. Even then we haven't had a lot of time to hang out, what with jet lag and all of our ranger duties. We're going to dinner with them tonight, though. So that should be fun, yeah?"

Fred managed a small smile, sympathizing the best he could with her hesitation. He scratched the back of his head, taking off his hat for a brief moment, lowering his head as he did so. Then he replaced his hat, brim facing forward, and moved to sit next to her.

"You know, I've been thinking about what you said," Fred said slowly. "About Kim's power coin being stolen and everything. Just because her coin is gone, that doesn't mean that she's not a ranger anymore, because the powers were destined to her, right?"

"Right," Bailey agreed slowly.

"But then your powers could be taken on by anyone, at least, your original Ankylosaurus powers were," Fred continued. "And then Jason's, Trini's, and Zack's powers were copied so that Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were able to morph as well."

"Right." The purple ninja ranger set her notebook aside and pulled her knees up. She wrapped her arms around her knees thinking of the plight of their friends. "Do you…do you want me to give her my lion power coin to see if Kim can use it?" That would've been her dream come true, wouldn't it? She had just been wondering what it would be like if she was a normal teenager and now that was an option…but could she really give up the life she had grown accustomed to?

"No, not that. But something I've been wondering since Jason came back. If his powers were just copied for Rocky to use, if he was able to hear the Tyrannosaurs zord die, if he's still able to use the communicator…does that mean that he can use Rocky's ninja powers as well? Can that be copied, too?"

Bailey's mind moved at a mile a minute. How had she not thought of it? How had _Billy_ not thought of it either? If Jason were able to morph into the red ninja ranger, then they'd be able to pick up the open spot in their team while they worked to figure out what had happened to Kimberly's Power Coin. That could help them; in fact it was probably their only option. And having Jason back on the team would be really cool.

"You have a point," she murmured. "In fact, we should go talk to Billy, Alpha, and Zordon right now. And see what they have to say." She scrambled to her feet and grabbed her notebook but Fred reached out and took her arm, pulling her back to the ground.

"Hold on, I want to give you something first." Bailey tucked her hair behind her ears as she waited in earnest for Fred to dig into his drawstring bag a few times. Then he pulled out his hand and presented her with a small, smooth, oddly shaped artifact. He waited as she rolled it through her palm, inspecting both sides.

"An arrow head?" She asked.

"Yeah, I found it on one of the trails we were hiking and I thought you would like it," Fred said. He shrugged, closing the bag once more. "There wasn't much of anything else I could bring back unless you wanted to smell like dead fish for a week."

"I'm good with the arrowhead." Bailey laughed. She carefully placed it in the pocket of her jeans and smiled sweetly at her friend. "Thank you." She then paused and reached out for his head. "So when are you going to tell me what's going on under your hat?" Quick as lightning she snapped it off his head before he could stop her then stared at the black eye he had been trying to hide. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Nothing." Fred got to his feet and pulled the bag over his shoulder, starting down the grassy slope. The purple ranger hurried after him, catching up in a few quick strides, continuing to hold onto his hat. "It's just a scratch."

"A black eye isn't a scratch. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Fred."

"Fine!" He held up his hands. "A fish jumped into the boat, but when it was jumping it hit me in the face, happy?" As the purple ranger laughed, he grabbed onto his hat and snatched it out of her hand. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We'll see whose laughing the next time one of those Tengas shoves a beak through your visor."

"Like that'll happen." Bailey looped her arm through his and brought up her communicator, teleporting to the Command Center.

* * *

Adam leaned back against the hammock and stared at the sky, watching the clouds move by. Beside him, Rocky and Aisha laid back next to him, the three gently pushing themselves back and forth with their feet. It was such a nice, peaceful day and yet his mind couldn't focus on anything but that missing Power Coin.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" At the sound of Avalon's voice, Adam sat up and looked down at the grass where the orange ranger sat in the sunlight, gently picking out handfuls of grass from the ground. "With Kim I mean? Is she a 'normal human' now that her Coin is gone?"

"I don't know," Adam replied. "Then again, we're still relatively new to all of this."

He leaned back against the hammock with a gentle shake of his head. It seemed so long ago when he, Rocky, and Aisha had joined the rangers, taking over Jason's, Trini's, and Zack's spots. Everything had been so new and fresh and exciting, but it had quickly come to be terrorizing and dangerous, a responsibility they took pretty quickly. He had been the first out of the Stone Canyon rangers to morph and the feeling of power that rushed through his body was unimaginable.

Now he couldn't imagine what it was like to have that power stripped away from him. As Zordon had said, their coins were linked to their human energy. It must've felt worse than when they lost their powers the first time around and traveled to Phaedos to get the ninja powers. Their powers back then weren't linked to their physical energy.

"If I knew this was possible, I don't know if I would've done it," Aisha murmured. Her words were so startling that when Rocky sat up to face her, his jerky movements shifted the weight on the hammock, spinning the three of them around until they tumbled out onto the ground. "Ow! Rocky!"

"Sorry," he apologized, sitting down across from the orange ninja ranger as the yellow and black ninja rangers finished the circle. "I was just…surprised by what you said."

"You mean you've never thought about not taking the power?" Aisha asked. "Not the ninja ranger ones, but the Dino ones."

"We didn't have a choice," Rocky reminded her. "We had to help out the other guys. Even then, we were destined to be rangers or else we wouldn't have had the potential to morph like they did. It's a blessing more than it is a curse, I think." He looked earnestly around the circle at the rangers. When he didn't get a response, he put on a bright smile. "C'mon guys, we've faced tougher than this. We fought the Tengas _and_ learned the way of our spirit animals all without our powers."

"I think you're forgetting that we were almost killed by those Tengas and we practically choked to death on those Squirbs, Rocky," Avalon pointed out with a half smile. "At least I did, anyway, I have no idea how Billy was able to eat those things. And you eat everything, so that's definitely saying something." She smiled as the other rangers laughed. "I don't know, it's just…for once in my life I really don't know what to do. Running in blind doesn't seem like it's going to help right now and that's usually my go-to move."

"Does it always work?" Adam asked.

"I'm optimistic."

The rangers laughed again before silence settled over them. Adam rested his chin in his hands, his eyes moving to the faces of each of the rangers. Rocky and Aisha appeared worried, but he could see that Avalon was downright upset despite how hard she was trying to hide it. He really felt for her. She, Billy, Tommy, and Kimberly were close friends after having been through so many adventures together before he, Rocky, and Aisha had joined the team. To know that Kim was in trouble must've been more than she could bear. Admittedly, he was intimidated by her at first. She could be very serious and ferocious when the time came—much like her spirit animal of the tiger represented—but he soon found that she was very caring towards everyone around her, especially her friends.

He couldn't hold it in anymore. Jason had said he didn't want to bring it up until the time was right, Adam didn't know what time was better. "Guys, I have to tell you something," he said slowly. "About Kim."

"Is something wrong with her?" Aisha asked.

"I think so, though I don't know for sure," Adam admitted. He paused, shrugging his shoulders, suddenly wondering why he had spoken. He truly hoped he was wrong. "I mean, I have my suspicions about some stuff, but—"

"You're rambling, Ad, what is it?" Aisha interrupted.

The black ninja ranger sucked in another breath and rubbed his hands against the knees of his jeans. "Before we went off to Phaedos…the day we went sky diving…I thought Kim looked a little sick. Pale and a bit lifeless, I asked her about it and she just said that she hadn't wanted to eat a big breakfast before jumping out of an airplane."

"I can understand that," Rocky agreed. He paused before continuing with, "Though that didn't stop me." Aisha rolled her eyes as Avalon smiled.

Looking away for a moment, Adam continued. "Then I noticed when we were on Phaedos that she was constantly getting dizzy or couldn't fight as long as we were fighting, even with our new powers. I didn't think much of it until shortly after we got back and…and I noticed she was refusing food. Saying she ate a lot at some point in the day but I never remembered her actually eating, and I could hear her stomach growling. Then…one day I saw her throwing up outside of the Youth Center."

A stunned silence followed his words and he waited for his friends' reactions.

"What?" Aisha asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"You're kidding," Rock added.

But it was Avalon who reacted worse than the other two. "That's not funny, Adam," she said to him. "Don't joke about something like that."

"I'm not joking. I saw her throw up and when I asked her about it she said that she was just trying to get stronger. To lose some weight so that she could gain more muscle and be a better fight for us. Then Jason said—"

"Jay?" Avalon interrupted. 'He said something about this, too?"

"He said there was a time that Sharky had called Kim 'fat' and that it probably started this whole thing. Since then…she's just been getting smaller and smaller, it's like she's wasting away."

"Of course it looks like she's wasting away," Avalon was impatient now. "Have you seen her? She's the size of a pin? And I'm even smaller than she is, and I don't hear you saying anything about me having an eating disorder."

"Have you seen yourself eat popcorn?" Rocky pointed out, earning glares from all of the rangers around him. He held up his hands defensively. "Just saying. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Just like I'm sure that Adam didn't mean anything by accusing Kim of having an eating disorder!" The orange ninja ranger got to her feet. "I'm out of here." She reached over and grabbed onto her shoes before marching out of the backyard. The black ninja ranger quickly got to his feet and followed her into his house, stopping her by the time she got to the living room. He could see his mother and father glancing at them curiously as they passed by but he held up a hand, letting them know everything was okay. "Stop following me, Adam!"

"So please listen to me." Adam licked his lips before letting out a deep breath. "I would never make up something like this. Not as serious as what she might possibly be going through. And if it is true that she's not eating, then we need to be there to support her."

"There's _nothing_ to support, Adam. She's bloody fine!" Avalon's eyes flashed but Adam could see her resolve slowly cracking. "She's just having a lot of trouble because of her Power Coin being taken; we all would be, yeah?" She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away. "I mean she can't catch a break. This is a girl who's been targeted by Rita and Zedd ever since she became a ranger, who's had more monsters specifically made for her than anything else. Who had her fucking zord fried by Ivan. Who was first attacked by the Tengas. Whose boyfriend was an evil ranger at some point in time." A tear slid down Avalon's cheek and she quickly wiped it away before Adam could see.

"And she had her Power Coin taken away and she may be dying. I guess it's just fitting that she'd think she wasn't good enough even though she's one of the best people I've ever known." The orange ranger brought her hands up to her face and took a deep breath, keeping her barely their composure. "I can't believe this."

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you, Av," Adam said quietly. He truly did hate it. To have it keep it quiet for so long. He had felt nothing but intense relief since Jason had brought up the topic to him the first time. But now…well, he and Avalon weren't exactly close but he felt they had gotten closer through the news, as strange as that was. "Truly, I am."

"I know, Adam. Yu wouldn't ever want to say anything bad about anyone," she agreed. She let out a deep breath, shaking her head. "But thanks for letting me know. And I'm sorry for yelling at you like that."

"I heard it can be much worse," Adam said lightly.

"Yeah, I went easy on you." Avalon smiled and reached out, wrapping her arm around his waist in a side-hug. Adam was surprised for a moment before reaching out and hugging her back.

It was what both of them needed.

* * *

Tommy sat at a table in the Youth Center, passing a juice back and forth between his hands. He looked across the room at the high balance beam where Kimberly was practicing her routine. She had insisted on going to get some practice that day, though Tommy had advised that she get some rest. Still, she pushed forward and insisted that she at least do something.

"I don't want to sit around sulking while we figure out what to do," Kimberly had told him as he drove to the Youth Center. "Gymnastics always helps me clear my head and I don't want to sit at home with my Mom constantly asking me questions."

 _At least she manages to keep a brave face,_ Tommy thought as he continued to watch his girlfriend twist and spin around the balance beam with even more skill he knew she had. _I don't know what I would do if it were me._ He brought his juice up to his mouth and finished it before going over to the counter, where Ernie was cleaning out the inside of a blender, watching a soap opera on TV. He turned as the white ninja ranger approached and sat on a stool right next to the bar.

"Hey Ernie, could I get another strawberry sunset?" He asked, holding out his cup.

Ernie gave him an odd look. "Another one? This would be your sixth."

"It's not like I have a problem, Ernie, I just want another smoothie," Tommy said calmly. He crossed his arms and rested them on the counter, lowering his head. Ernie nodded and took the cup from the countertop and moved to make another smoothie. Tommy nodded his thanks and brought his hands up over his face. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Jason had arrived at the Youth Center until he sat on the stool next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey man, what's up?" Jason asked.

Tommy pulled his hands way from his face and turned towards his best friend, blinking at him for a moment before giving a small smile. "Hey, man. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to get some practice in; I was hoping you'd want to spar with me." Jason placed his hands on his hips and watched as Tommy shook his head. "What's wrong? Usually you're willing to jump onto the mat with nearly anybody. I didn't think you'd ever be afraid of me." He laughed at his joke but Tommy didn't even crack a smile this time around. Instead, Jason looked over his shoulder and found Kimberly sitting on the balance beam, stretching her arms. "Oh. I get it. Tommy, what happened wasn't your fault."

The white ranger gently shook his head. He wasn't surprised that he knew Tommy was placing all of the blame of her missing Power Coin on himself. Jason had always been understanding like that. And while Tommy knew what Jason was saying was true, he couldn't help it. _He_ was the one that had suggested they go to the lake in the first place. They all deserved some time to themselves, to be able to enjoy themselves a little bit and as the leader of the rangers he wanted to be sure they understood that. Kimberly had immediately jumped on the idea and invited all of their friends along as he knew she would, she was always so social and outgoing like that.

Now…now it broke his heart to see how subdued she had become, while trying to put on a brave face. If anyone recognized that better than he did, it was Jason, who had known the girl since they were both in the first grade.

"You don't know that," he murmured.

"Yes, I do," Jason insisted. "None of us could've known it was going to happen. We all took the risk when doing something like this. I don't think any of our morphers are water proof anyway. If it wasn't just Kim's that was stolen, it could have been any of ours." He paused, waiting for Tommy to respond.

The white ranger heard him, but he couldn't push out the other voice that was in his head. Of the green ranger. Once again it was plaguing him, the evil and purely cold voice that whisked through his head.

" _It was your fault, Tommy. You knew the risks. Once you go to a public place like that; a place where you have to leave your stuff behind, you're always risking our secret. This time you were stupid enough to think that your precious little secret was untouchable."_

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing. Hearing a light clinking sound, he opened his eyes and looked up, eyes filled with gratitude as Ernie gave him another smoothie. Jason reached out and picked up the glass, moving it away from the white ranger.

"C'mon." Jason grabbed onto Tommy's arm and pulled him off of the stool. He dragged the white ranger out of the Youth Center, gave Kimberly a quick wave as they passed her, and took him outside.

Once in the sunshine, Tommy lifted a hand to shield his face before falling into step beside his best friend and the two walked aimlessly around downtown Angel Grove. Everyone they passed had a bright smile on their face and they chatted in carefree conversation. No matter how many monster attacks that managed to roll through the city and the residents were still able to go walk around without a care in the world.

And yet he couldn't do that.

"So what's going on?" Jason slid his hands into his jeans pockets as he turned to look at his friend, earring glinting in the sunlight. "I know there's a lot that I have to be caught up on when it comes to all of the adventures you guys went through, but you're not acting like yourself, man. It's really starting to worry me."

"I don't know how I can be myself, honestly," Tommy admitted. He cleared his throat and lifted his hand before dropping it back to his side. "I don't know, man. A _lot_ has been going on. I feel like I don't know how to be a good leader anymore. All of the decisions I've been making haven't turned out so well." He took in a deep breath. "I was the one that made the decision to continue fighting against Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina with our Thunderzords and that caused our zords to be destroyed. If I hadn't have done that, then we would've been able to protect the city from them and Zordon wouldn't have died."

"But then you wouldn't have found the ninja powers," Jason pointed out. "And you _saved_ Zordon with the use of those powers. Who knows if you all would be able to do that if you still had your old powers?" He reached out and placed his hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Going to the lake wasn't your fault either. Kim's a big girl and she can take care of herself. _Any_ of your coins could've been taken while we were out there in the water. It was the perfect time for them to get it."

"I know, but…I can't help but think there was something else I could've done. Some other decision that could've avoided all of this." Tommy brought his hands up to his forehead and slapped them hard. "And…now I can't get this voice out of my head. The voice of the green ranger. It keeps taunting me and telling me that I keep doing the wrong things and that I'm the reason that all of this is happening." He turned back to Jason, who watched him calmly. "I don't know how to do it, anymore, Jase. I don't know how to be a leader when I constantly doubt myself. I can't make decisions without wondering if someone's going to get really hurt or killed or…"

He lifted a hand and dropped it once more, thinking of Kim. It was probably better to die quickly, he reasoned. Rather than know that you were dying, not knowing when it was going to happen. He wondered how she was able to get through it. But as Jason said, Kim was tough and she always faced everything that came her way with fierce determination.

"How'd you do it?"

Jason's eyebrows rose at the sudden question that caught him off guard. "How'd I do it?" He repeated. "How did I handle being the leader?" At Tommy's nod Jason laughed lightly, shaking his head. "About the same way you did. I saw our zords get destroyed before we had the Thunderzords; I made the decision to give up our power coins so that we could get our parents back, there've been _so many_ tough decisions that I had to make that I didn't know how I could live with myself. But at the same time, I had a lot of faith in the other rangers and in the choices I made, no matter what the outcome was." He stepped closer to the white ninja ranger. "I know you're worried about Kim, we all are. But we're going to do our best to figure out what happened to her coin and how to get it back. We're not going to let anything happen to her."

"I think you should worry about yourselves."

"Because this time we're not going to let you get away."

Tommy and Jason whirled around, falling into fighting stances at the sound of Goldar's and Rito's voices. The two monsters stood on the street behind them, waving their swords above their heads as the resident of Angel Grove that were nearby immediately ran away from the clearing.

Jason brought a hand up over his nose and mouth. "You stink, man,"

"Well thank you very much." Rito gave a mock curtsey before pointing his sword over at him. "You know, I like you. It's just a shame that I have to kill you now."

"Let's see if you can handle this, white ranger," Goldar added, taking a step forward. "Now that the pretty pink ranger has been decommissioned, it won't take much longer for us to get the rest of your power coins."

Tommy gritted his teeth. He should've known that Rita and Zedd had gotten a hold of her Power Coin. Now the question was who was the one that had taken it? The Tengas had done nothing but attacked the rangers, as a distraction he knew that for sure now. And Goldar and Rito hadn't been around. So who else would want to get to her Power Coin that badly?

"Now hand them over, or else I'll skin you alive," Rito said, holding out his hand. He then paused and looked over at Goldar and then back to the rangers. "Actually, I'm going to skin you alive anyway, so I guess I shouldn't give you the choice." He laughed threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"We'll just see about that," Jason said.

He and Tommy looked at each other before leaping forward and attacking Goldar and Rito. Jason did a spinning high-kick, hitting Goldar in the forehead, then turned around, elbowing the gold monster in the face. Goldar snarled and swung his sword towards his arch-rival and Jason ducked out of the way, giving him a judo sweep that knocked the monster off his feet. Reaching out, he placed his hands on Goldar's chest and flipped himself over, backing away so that he gave himself enough space to plan his next attack. Goldar growled and got to his feet.

"That's the last you're going to make a fool of me, red ranger," Goldar snarled. He got to his feet and slashed towards Jason once more. As the former ranger ducked out of the way, Goldar brought up his foot and kicked Jason in the chest, knocking him onto his back on the ground. He then moved forward and pressed his foot down atop of Jason's chest, pinning him to the ground.

Tommy brought up his hands and grabbed onto the sword that Rito swung down towards him. Deadlocking his arms, Tommy brought up his knee and struck Rito in the chest. The bone monster stumbled back and Tommy leapt high into the air, kicking Rito in the face then punched him in the stomach, the face, and spun so that his back was facing him and jumped high, splitting his legs in the air, striking Rito once more. The bone monster fell back to the ground and got back up, eyes flashing with intense anger.

He came back towards Tommy and the white ranger grabbed onto Rito's arm, flipping him to the ground. He then kicked the monster's sword out of his hands and held it down towards his face. "Do you have any last words, Rito?"

"Yes." Rito brought a hand up to his face. "Don't. Touch. My. Sword." He removed his hand from his eyes and a blast of red energy shot away from his eyes towards the white ranger. Despite the attack missing him, the outward energy form the blast knocked Tommy back off his feet, dropping Rito's sword.

On Tommy's other side, Jason grabbed onto Goldar's foot and pushed him off of chest and did a kick-up back to his feet. He fell into another fighting stance. "Are you ready to give up, Goldar?"

"I should be asking you the same question!" Goldar spun around and kicked Jason in the chest, knocking him off his feet and into the wall of the store beside him. Jason let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground. Goldar laughed loudly and waved his sword in the air as Rito came to his side. "We win this time, rangers!"

"We'll see you around," Rito added and the two disappeared from sight.

Tommy groaned as he pushed himself up to his side. He looked around before getting up, brushing off his hands before going over to Jason and grabbing onto his hand, pulling him to his feet in one tug.

"I don't get it," Jason murmured. "Why'd they leave like that?"

"Because they wanted to send a message," Tommy replied. "And I got it loud and clear."


	30. Saturday Night

**Chapter 30**

_Saturday Night_

* * *

Dana glanced over at her father and laughed when she saw him standing in the hotel's full-length mirror, fretting over his appearance. He tightened his tie, loosed his tie and did it over and over again until she got up from the chair at the desk and went over to her father, pushing his hands away.

"Dad," she said to him. "We're just going to dinner. There's nothing serious about dinner."

"I know," Captain Mitchell said, dropping his hands and allowing his daughter to remove the tie from around his neck. "Things aren't exactly great between me and the girls and I guess I just don't want to push them even further away. I made that mistake with your mother, with Ellie, with them…I signed away my rights to them and I constantly wonder if that was the best decision I could've made for them."

Dana nodded in understanding. She stood at his side and looked at their reflections in the mirror. As per usual, she stood shorter than her father, leaning against him and resting her head on his arm. This was the William Mitchell that was her father; the one that worried about things in his life and showed his emotions for everything around him rather than the man that was commonly known as 'Captain Mitchell'. Who was the serious man that liked to have his work done in a certain way by a deadline and having to fall under his strict regiments of what was acceptable. He was the one that had his co-workers looking at him for direction with everything he did.

And yet, she saw him as nothing short of her father. And while things were still a bit strained by the things he hadn't been forthcoming about, she knew now how hard it had to have been to follow what it was her mother wanted, and to keep her from the truth. Her mother had wanted nothing more than for her to be protected from her death and of the things she had wanted her father to do to move on. Still, she missed the relationship she and her father used to have, when she thought everything was perfect.

Nevertheless, when she first met Avalon and Bailey, she could see little parts of him in their faces. It was with that initial meeting, as awkward as it was; she knew everything she had finally been told by her father was true. They truly were her half sisters; they were thrown into the web of lies and omitted truths that Captain Mitchell had spread to keep up appearances. They had been blindsided just as badly as she was, so there was no need to be nervous around them.

Right?

With a light sigh that was undetectable by her father, Dana took a step back and rested her hands on his shoulders, leaning to the side so that she could still see her reflection in the mirror. "You're worrying about nothing. We're just going to dinner and talk and to get to know each other." She paused. "That'll be pretty exciting."

"Sure, sweetie." Captain Mitchell patted her on the shoulder before turning and placing his hands on her shoulders. "You know, you've really grown up to be a remarkable young lady," he said quietly. Dana smiled a bashful smile, and turned away. "You're far more serious than I am. Half the time I don't know if I have my head on straight and you're always right there, keeping me grounded."

"That's just as much my job is for you, as well as your job for me, Dad," Dana said. She took a deep breath, her smile fading a little. "I don't think you understand how hurt I was, when I found out about Av and Bay and you didn't say anything. I didn't understand why you would want to lie to me like that. I think I sort of get it now…but there's a part of me that's still so mad." She closed her eyes briefly, turning away from her father. "I mean, you shielded me so much from Mom when she was losing her life. I never really got a proper goodbye, I was at school and they had to come get me after she had already passed. "

Captain Mitchell ran his hand over his face, and then let out a low sigh. He knew that. He knew a lot of mistakes were just that, mistakes, and he wasn't going to be able to forget it. Not when there were so many lives that he had managed to hurt along the way.

"That really hurts and I don't think I'll ever be able to get over it, but now I understand why you did it," Dana said. She turned back towards her father and tilted her head to the side as a serene expression came onto her face. "You truly did just want to be sure that I was able to…keep my innocence, I guess, about everything that was happening. And I can't thank you enough for that."

Captain Mitchell smiled.

"I just hope that the girls and Ellie can do it too," she added.

Captain Mitchell leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I hope so, too," he said then took her head. "C'mon, I'm sure they're waiting for us and I know Ellie. She hates it when I'm late."

"Well, you're late for just about everything, Dad."

"That's because I like to be sure that I have all of my work done before I go somewhere and I hope that's a trait I've managed to pass along to you." Captain Mitchell put his arm around his daughter's shoulders and the two started out of the hotel room. Just as the door was about to close behind them, Dana whipped around and slapped her hand against the door, holding it open. However, the sound caused Captain Mitchell to jump and turn to his daughter with wide eyes. "What, what is it?"

"There's something else that you've forgotten, Dad," she commented. "The one thing that you, thankfully, _didn't_ pass along to me. Your forgetfulness." She stood up straight, her hand still on the door, keeping it open a few inches. "Did you get the key to the room?"

Captain Mitchell blinked at her blankly and she let to a sigh before disappearing into the room. She found the key on the table by the door and shook her head as she picked it up and walked back out of the room. Captain Mitchell gave a sheepish smile and Dana smiled back at him before the two went down to the hotel's restaurant to get their reserved table. Ellie, Avalon, and Bailey were already there, speaking quietly as Mitchells arrived.

"I'm just saying, Abigail, that you can't have your schoolwork always comes first," Ellie said as she lifted her glass of iced tea, but didn't take a sip. "There has to be some time that you want to just let loose and have fun, right?"

"You're right," Bailey agreed. She leaned back in her seat, rubbing her arm. "It's actually something that I've been thinking about a lot, lately. I mean, how many times can you get an A on a test or a paper before it gets boring, right?" She then turned to Avalon and gave a teasing smile, her eyes lighting up behind her glasses. "But not everyone knows that feeling, yeah?"

The orange ninja ranger glanced back at her sister with disdain, a light scowl tugging at her lips. "I get Bs," she defended herself. "And that's just fine with me. Besides, not everyone is suited for school." She looked over at Captain Mitchell and Dana as they approached and gave a small smile.

"Hi." Dana waved before pulling out her seat and sitting down. "Sorry for being so late. Dad almost got us locked out of the room. Not only that, but as you can see he's a bit stylishly challenged."

"Does he still do that thing where he's worn his uniform so much that he doesn't know what looks right?" Avalon asked, brushing some of her loose hair behind her ear. "So that he dresses in some of the weirdest combinations that have you look at him in horror?"

Dana laughed, mimicking Avalon's movement and tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "Yeah, he still does that. It's especially painful when the weather gets really warm and he insists on going to the beach."

After taking a sip of her tea, Ellie laced her fingers together and rested her chin on top of her hands. She leaned forward a little as her upper lip curled. "As far as I'm concerned, I don't really remember your father having much time off of work." She flicked her blonde hair out of her face. "I mean, I know that my schedule is difficult, being a nurse and everything, but even I know how to have fun."

Captain Mitchell gave her an amused look. "You think I don't know how to have fun."

"No," Avalon said quickly.

"Uh-huh," Bailey agreed.

"Nope," Ellie said.

"Sorry." Dana shrugged and smiled. Captain Mitchell rolled his eyes and turned to the menu in front of him as the females in his life all ganged up on him. Dana caught her father's eye and smiled a little. His eyes lit up over the top of his menu before he lowered it to study the options he had to choose from. Turning back to the menu in front of her, she quickly made her decision before setting her menu aside, taking the chance to study the girls up close.

Bailey reminded her a lot of herself at thirteen. Bright-eyed and waiting to see what the world was like when she got to the age where she could be more independent. Her dark eyes behind her glasses were filled with wonder and she appeared to be the one that was the most at ease with the situation. _Probably because she was so young when all of this happened,_ Dana thought. Still, there was something a bit guarded about her that she could see as well, something that had to have been created and nurtured within her while she and Avalon were left on their own for the past three years. She couldn't imagine what it was they had gone through during those three years. Nevertheless, Bailey still had a bright smile on her face as she conversed with those around her.

Then she turned her attention towards Avalon, who was clearly more guarded of the two. Captain Mitchell had told her everything the two had gone through and Dana was a bit surprised. She had thought that a former gang member would be...very hard, distrusting of nearly everything and everyone that came her way. And yet, there was still a friendly and caring air about her while the scar on her shoulder and right cheek as well as the tattoos on the insides of her wrists proves there had been some things she experienced others hadn't. Dana knew that she and Avalon were very close in age, probably only a few months apart but her estimation, and yet it seemed like they were already worlds apart.

She knew nothing but going to school and her plans on wanting to go to medical school and hanging out with her friends, while her half-sister was street smart and knew a lot of the world around her. Though, as Captain Mitchell had warned her, that time she had first suggested they go to Angel Grove to meet her sisters, her time on the streets and in the gang gave her a snap temper as well. Dana didn't believe that, not the reasoning of it as she knew her father could have a short temper as well.

Especially when he was being taken away from his work.

"So, Dana," Bailey caught her attention. "Dad says that you want to go into medical school? What do you want to study?" She looked at the blonde girl with such earnest that Dana couldn't help but smile a comfortable smile. Even Avalon's shoulders relaxed from the position close to her ears. "I always thought about going into medical school, but I think the scientific field is better for me."

"Yeah, I've heard you're very smart."

"She's a part of Mensa," Avalon spoke up. "But please don't let her smarts fool you; she's still a right nerd about things, yeah?" She stuck her tongue out at Bailey who reached out and smacked her on the arm. "What? It's true." The orange ninja ranger then turned back to the blonde girl. "She recently won her school's science fair with her friend, Fred."

"Oh! That's exciting!" Bailey smiled bashfully and Dana motioned to herself. "I won a couple of science fairs when I was little. And to answer your question I want to go into pediatrics. I just love little kids and I'd like to see how they're developing and make sure that they're growing properly."

Avalon's upper lip curled. "That's a lot of school to go through," she remarked.

"Yes, but it's very rewarding by the time all of the work is done. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. What about you?"

The orange ninja ranger paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she thought. "You know, I never really thought about it before. Funny enough, when I was a little girl I wanted to be a doctor. But now…I think I want to be a social worker. As of late I've found that I really like helping people." She tried to keep her smile from her face when Bailey elbowed her in the side and flashed her a disapproving glance.

All of a sudden, Dana felt really alone. She hadn't known what it was like to grow up with any brothers or sisters. Being an only child for so long she had to learn how to entertain herself and could admit that at some points in her life she was spoiled because she never had to share. Now she realized she had truly missed out on a lot; a special bond you had with that siblings, fights, laughter, playing together, good times, things they would understand about each other that others wouldn't. She had always grown up, wondering what it would be like, but having seen her friends complain about their brothers and sisters and deal with siblings rivalry made her feel that she wasn't missing anything at al.

It was so funny to see things in hindsight, to have the whole picture of what was going on and then see right in front of her what she had truly missed. From what she had heard, her personalities mixed well with theirs, while she was the more serious one of the three, Avalon was the more outgoing, and Bailey was a mixture of the two.

If it weren't the fact they were half-sisters they'd probably be mistaken for real ones. Ones she had wanted to have for as long as she could remember. _But you're getting to know them now; it's not completely a lost cause. And it seems that you already have a lot in common,_ she reminded herself.

The waitress came over to the table and took their orders. As she went around the table, taking up the menus, Dana noticed the matching pieces of jewelry that were on her sisters' wrists. "Hey, what's that?" She asked, pointing to the communicators. "Are they some sort of watches?"

Bailey resembled a deer in headlights as she held onto the other end of her menu. Avalon had to reach over and practically prey her hand off of the menu before turning her attention back to Dana. "It's a watch," she explained. "Our friend Billy made it for us. It's supposed to be this thing that tells us time holographically, but it doesn't work." She shrugged sheepishly. "It doesn't work but we didn't want to tell him, so we still wear them."

The purple ninja ranger nodded before reaching out and grabbing her sister by the arm, pulling her down. She spoke to her sister through clenched teeth, "and you couldn't have just said that they were friendship bracelets or something?"

"It was all I could think of under pressure, "Avalon snapped back.

"Wha—"

"So, Cadence," Ellie broke in before Dana could continue her question. She looked at her daughter with slightly wide eyes. "How are things going with you and Billy? Have you been going out long? I hope I don't need to have a talk with the boy."

"Please, Mum, he's the _last_ person you need to worry about on that front," Avalon said with a light roll of her eyes. Resting her chin in her hand, she turned towards her father with a lift of her eyebrow. "I assume that means you don't like him either way." She smirked before pointing over towards her sister. "Did you know that Bailey has a boyfriend, too?"

"Av!" Bailey hissed.

"What?" Captain Mitchell and Ellie cried at the same time.

Bringing a hand up to cover her mouth, Dana caught Avalon's eye and the two smiled at each other as their little sister was caught under the rapid-fire questions of a mother and father who probably hadn't thought their academic loving daughter had started to turn their attention to boys. Avalon caught Dana's eye once more and tilted her head to the side, motioning for her to follow her to the bathroom. Quickly following the orange ranger's lead, Dana got up from her seat and the two went into the bathroom.

"That was probably really mean, but I couldn't resist," Avalon remarked as soon as the door was closed behind them. Her accented voice echoed around the bathroom as she pulled herself up onto the counter and kicked her legs back and forth.

"It's alright," Dana said with a wave of her hand. "Dad was the same way when I started to get interested in boys. It's probably the only thing that he doesn't know how to talk about." She shook her head. "He gets really weird about it too, always thinking they're up to something and being highly suspicious of them. I'm sure he ran a background check on every guy that I've gone out with."

Avalon smirked. "That doesn't bode well for Smurf then," she remarked.

"Smurf?"

"It's what I call Billy to get on his nerves," she explained.

"Oh." Dana crossed her arms. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend." She paused. "Then again, I don't know a lot about you _or_ Bailey, so I guess that's the point, right?" She reached up and scratched the back of her head. "I guess this whole thing is weird for you, too."

"A little," Avalon admitted. "I mean, I didn't know what to expect when it came to meeting you. I wasn't sure if you were going to be nice, or mean, or didn't want anything to do with us. If you were mad that we didn't try to reach out to you of if you thought we were trying to take Dad away from you or something." She frowned. "I reckon I'm going to be mad at him for a while…"

For a long moment, Dana was silent, not sure if she wanted to venture out and ask the question that had been on her mind all day. "You mean, with the whole giving up parental rights thing? I heard you're going to be adopted."

"They did what they felt they had to do, they were probably going to lose custody anyway," Avalon said dismissively. "With what happened. But that doesn't really matter anymore." She flipped her hair over her shoulders. "There's no point living in the past when there are more important things to think about." She started to say something else but stopped as there was a sudden loud sound that filled the bathroom, causing Dana to cover her ears and duck away. "Except for that."

Turning around, Dana's eyes widened when she spotted black bird with purple armor flapping their wings and cawing at them loudly. "What is that?"

"Nothing you want around, trust me," Avalon said. She jumped down from the counter and fell into a fighting stance. "What do you bird brains want this time? Another ass whopping."

"On behalf of Rita and Zedd we wanted to welcome your sister to Angel Grove the only way we know how," the biggest Tenga said before darting towards the two girls. Avalon ducked underneath its open wings and planted her right foot on the ground, and bent leaned to the right, lashing out with her left foot. She struck the Tenga behind her in the middle of the chest, then grabbing onto the Tenga at her right and heaved it to the ground.

Dana backed away a few paces before bringing her hands up to shield her face, falling into a fighting stance. A Tenga moved towards her and followed her sister's lead from behind she jumped up onto the sink counter. She opened her legs as the Tenga moved close to her, and wrapped her ankles around her neck. Then, lifting her arm, she quickly swung it back down and followed the momentum and rolled to the side, twisting the Tenga to the ground. She jumped back down from the counter and ducked low before lifting herself back up and kicking hard right in front of her, knocking the Tenga to the ground. She then did a somersault to move out of the way and kicked another Tenga at the side time that Avalon, who was beside her, punched a Tenga as hard as she could, sending the two crashing into empty stalls.

The other Tengas continued to move in on the orange ninja ranger and Dana. Dana backed up a few steps, looking for something that would aid her, and then spotted the baby changing station to her side. She quickly unlatched it and brought it down as the Tenga leapt at her, and caught it in the stomach. It let out a guttural sound and crashed to the ground.

The Tengas then started to fight together, ganging up on Dana and Avalon. Avalon brought up her arms and crossed them, shielding her face as a Tenga aimed a kicked towards her. The other Tenga alongside it took the opportunity to strike Avalon in the stomach, causing her to stumble back and hit the sink before falling to the ground. Dana was grabbed by the arms and flung backwards into the wall behind her where she struck hard and fell to the ground.

"This isn't working," Avalon declared. She crawled over to Dana and grabbed onto her arm before scooting backwards, dragging her with her. "We need more space." Looking up, Dana saw a Tenga fly her way, beak aiming right for her face. She twisted away, waiting for the pain.

"Don't even think about it!" Avalon moved out from behind Dana and brought her arm back. She thrust it forward as hard as she could and punched the Tenga directly in the beak before sending a flurry of punches into its face and neck, driving it backwards. Once there was enough space, she went back over to Dana and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the bathroom.

The Tengas followed after them, joining the other Tengas that were already in the dining room. Dana and Avalon could see Bailey fighting as hard as she could against the Tengas that acme her way with Captain Mitchell at her side, while Ellie hurried to get other restaurant patrons out of harm's way. Dana watched in surprise as her father reached out a hand and grabbed onto a Tenga's wing, bringing up his knee and striking it in the chest. He then used a fancy maneuver that she didn't know he knew, to spin the Tenga around his knee and slam it to the ground, driving his heel into the Tenga's chest.

He then spun around and gave a hard elbow thrust into another Tenga's stomach.

"Av!" The purple ninja ranger called as soon as she saw her sister. "Are you okay?"

"As good as we can be, yeah?" Avalon replied as the three girls banded together, facing the Tengas in front of her. Before they could start fighting again, there was a sudden bolt of lightning that came through the ceiling, causing the Tengas to implode in a flurry of feathers.

"There has to be a reason that Rita and Zedd are doing this," Bailey muttered to Avalon, who nodded. "To keep us from looking for Kim's power coin, I'm guessing. Or something else, maybe the ancient zord? We need to get to the Command Center."

"You're right," Avalon agreed. She rubbed her mouth before going over to Captain Mitchell. "Bailey and I have to go," she said to him. "I don't care what you tell them, but we have to get to the Command Center to see what's going on. I'd explain more but…"

"Go." Captain Mitchell nodded, wiping sweat off his forehead from his effort of fighting. "We'll be fine."

Avalon nodded before grabbing Bailey's hand and dragging her around a corner. After making sure there was no one following them, the girls brought their communicators up and teleported out of the restaurant.

* * *

Jason looked over as Avalon and Bailey teleported into the Command Center. They looked around, taking in Tommy, Billy, Kimberly, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha as they stood around him, and turned back to the former ranger.

"What's going on?" Bailey asked. "There was a Tenga attack at the restaurant we were at with our Mum, Dad, and Dana. I can't imagine that was a coincidence."

"We were attacked by Tengas, too," Aisha explained. She placed a hand against her chest. "Everywhere we all were; there was a Tenga attack."

"The strange thing is, they didn't try to capture us or anything," Rocky added, running a hand over his hair. "They've been doing that to us for a while now and we're still not sure what it is that they want."

"You mean other than trying to make us run out of time?" Kimberly asked. Her voice was so…defeated that it almost didn't sound like her. And as all the rangers turned towards her, they could see a serious expression on her face rather than the cheerful smile she always had. "I'm just being realistic."

"It's not your strong suit, Pinkerbell," Avalon said to her.

Kimberly shrugged, looking at her feet. Tommy reached out and his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and she buried her face into his neck.

"Alpha, Zordon, what about that thing that Fred and I talked to you about before?" Bailey asked. The purple ninja ranger licked her lips and turned to the rangers, who all eyed her curiously. "If Jason's, Trini's, and Zack's powers were copied so that Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were able to use it, wouldn't that mean that Jason is able to use the power of the ninjetti as well?" She motioned to Rocky. "They could share the power like they had with the tyrannosaurus power before he left with the other rangers."

"Yeah!" Adam jumped onto the option they had at the moment. "That way it'd be enough power so that we'd be able to hold Kim off and use her powers only when we really need to but still have the strength to stop Rita and Zedd and…whatever plan they have this time."

"I'm sorry to say that that's not possible," Zordon said dismissively.

"What?" Avalon breathed.

"Are you sure?" Rocky asked. He looked over at Jason as he placed his hands on his hips, a serious expression on his face. Not that it was any different, whenever Jason was concentrating, working hard on his martial arts of was dealing with the monsters that Rita and Zedd gave out, there was always that one expression on his face. This time, however, Rocky was sure the expression was holding his disappointment at bay. "We won't know unless we try."

"Even if we knew were to begin, these powers aren't the same as the dino powers you were all originally destined to have," Alpha explained sadly. "The power of the ninjetti comes from the Great Power, from that of the Azurite Healiodore and what the Nathadian Monolith had placed into hiding for centuries. The dino power…we don't know what the source of that power was, that has caused each of you to be destined to take it."

"If we were destined for our individual powers, then how was I able to use the Dragonzord power once Tommy transferred it to me?" Jason pointed out. "Not only that, but because of other powers that were being created, Avie was able to use one of our other morphers when needed. And they were copied in general, how is that not possible with the power of the ninjetti, what's so different about those powers and the ones we have now? Especially if the Azurite Healiodore was what had given us the element powers before."

"The element powers that we had before have been transferred to our zords," Billy explained. "That much I know for sure. But the others…I don't know either. In theory all of our ranger powers had to have been created by the same power source in general. But being utilized by the different animal representations is what causes the ninjetti powers to be stronger than that of the dino powers."

"I apologize, Jason," Zordon said with a light shake of his head. "But the powers of the ninjetti are specifically that of Rocky's and unlike the powers before, I don't know if it'll be possible for you to morph again."

"You mean we can't even try?" Bailey asked, tilting her head to the side.

"We don't know what'll happen to his body or his human life-force if he tries," Alpha pointed out. "And considering what's happening with Kimberly right now, we can't risk it." Lowering his hands, he lightly pressed his fingertips together. "I'm sorry."

Jason nodded. "It's alright, Alpha. At least it's something we can think about if we ever get the chance." He licked his lips, turning back to his friends. "It just makes me wonder, what's it going to be that'll help us find Kim's power coin?"


	31. 50 Shades Of Pink

**Chapter 31**

_50 Shades of Pink (1)_

* * *

Kimberly raised her head as he felt her hair pushed back from her face. Opening her eyes, she looked up at her mother, who sat by her on the bed, running her fingers through her hair. The pink ranger stretched her arms over her head before rolling onto her back. She frowned and stretched some more, wondering why she was so sore.

She never used to wake up so sore and wishing she could do nothing but continue to sleep the day away. Then it hit her again, as it did just about every morning. She had nothing that was keeping her energy up, not the same way she had from the power coin that aligned with her human life force. She hadn't ever thought of her life without being a power ranger. Instead she focused on what would happen if the rangers were ever defeated.

Now that it was staring her in the face, her reality was scarier than she ever thought it would be. Despite that, she managed a small smile up towards her mother. "Hey Mom," she greeted, pushing herself up into a sitting position then yawned. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, sweetie," Ms. Hart replied, continuing to stroke her daughter's hair. She dropped her hand and rubbed the pink ranger's forearm. "You haven't been yourself lately. For a while I couldn't get you stay in bed while you were up and out and about doing everything under the sun. Now I can't get you out of bed in the mornings and, Kim, you don't look so well."

With a light sigh, the young teen turned her head to the side. "I've just had a lot on my plate lately," she explained. "A lot of practice and school work. I mean, its senior year, there's so much more stuff that I have to worry about than I thought I would.

I mean, there's homework, clubs, extracurriculars, and writing out college admission essays. As well as doing the SATs, and deciding what I want to do with my future. Gymnastics…" She shook her head. "There's a lot to do. I'm so tired."

"I can see that, Kim, and I was afraid this would happen." Ms. Hart let out a sigh that matched her daughter's in sound but not length. "Senior year is always tough on everyone and I was afraid you would burn yourself out too early. It's the weekend and you can't even get out of bed."

"I'm fine, Mom," Kimberly insisted. With a frown, she rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball, burying herself under her covers. She hated the constant need to stretch, understanding what people meant when they said to be careful what they wished for. "I'm just working to get everything on schedule. If I want to get into a good college I have to make sure that my application is amazing."

"Not at the expense of your health."

"I'm still healthy, Mom."

"So you come home even more disheveled and bruised day after day because you were playing kickball at recess?" The sarcastic and worrying tone in her mother's voice caught Kimberly by surprise. Not just because her mother worried for her, but she had a feeling there was something else her mother knew and wasn't saying. And as Kimberly gazed up at her mother, she knew it to be true. "You're not in any sort of trouble are you?"

Now Kimberly sat up completely, despite the protest her sore body sent to her. Brushing her hair back from her ears, she gazed at her mother with a curious glance. "What kind of trouble can I get into, Mom?" She then let out a light groan. "Mom, I already told you, Tommy and I are fine." A light blush tinged her cheeks as she thought about her boyfriend, the way their relationship changed and how much she loved him. How much he loved her.

"So he's not hurting you."

In utter disbelief, Kim's mouth dropped open. Unbelievable.

First her mother wanted her to focus on her schoolwork and her future and didn't want her to date her boyfriend. Now she as accusing him of being abusive.

"No, Mom, he's _not_!" Kimberly got to her feet and started to pace back and forth. She went from her bed to her dresser to her closet, to her dresser to her desk and looked through her make-up. She didn't remember using so much foundation before, but she had started to look pale lately. "Tommy would never do something like that to me. I love him and he loves me…" she took a deep breath. "And he proved it."

A brief, heavy silence hung through the air.

Kimberly was sure her mother understood the meaning of her words, but couldn't force herself to meet her gaze through the mirror. Then guilt washed over her. What had she done? Not only was it out of her character to be…such a brat, but to get back at her mother by blurting out her's and Tommy's relationship was even worse. Maybe because she, subconsciously, was still angry at her father having left them? That she still wasn't used to her mother dating and trying to find someone of her own? She didn't know.

 _I guess I really am messed up now that my Power Coin is gone,_ Kim thought, lowering her chin. She brought her hands up to her forehead and rubbed at the skin, feeling warm and cold all at the same time.

"Kim, please tell me that you didn't—"

"Make love to him?" Kim interrupted, feeling irritable compared to her guilty demeanor seconds before. "Yes, I did. Not that it's any of your business." Finally, she lifted her head and locked her eyes with her mother through her reflection in the mirror. "And, no, he doesn't beat me. He doesn't hurt me at all. He loves me so much and wouldn't do that. As a matter of fact—"

"—you're a power ranger," Ms. Hart interrupted, finally lulling the pink ranger into silence.

Kimberly wasn't sure how to react. Ever since becoming a ranger she knew how important it was to keep the secret.

There had been so many times she wanted to come home, put her backpack on the ground, and tell her mother what happened in that day's monster fight. How every time she came home she worried to find her mother dead or kidnapped or held for ransom as had happened in the past. How there had been a ranger fight outside of the house that she had been in the middle of. How every time she had come back in more pain and battered and bruised than the day before she hated having to lie and say she was training hard.

And yet, she was more curious about how her mother had figured it out and how long she had known.

Ms. Hart stood up and went over to her daughter. Leaning over her, she picked up a brush and started to run it through Kimberly's hair in even, smooth strokes. "I'd hoped you would've come to me and told me about it sooner, but I realized you were trying to protect me."

Nodding, Kimberly continued to gaze at her mother. "How did you know?" She asked. "How'd you find out?"

"How do you think I found out?"

"I don't know, Mom," Kimberly said. She shook her head, wincing as there was a sudden sharp tug at her hair _. It must've been hard for her to know all this time and not say anything_. "It's…it's supposed to be a secret, we can't have anyone else know or else we'd have to give up our powers. But that hasn't been going well for us lately. I thought we were being careful."

"You were," Ms. Hart reassured her. A light chuckle escaped her lips. "But you can't think that I don't know or what to know what's going on in my daughter's life. Or in her friends' lives as well. Us parents have known for a while, once we thought about it, it didn't take long for us to put two and two together. I've never seen kids so beat up before in my life." Placing her hand on Kim's shoulder she turned to her side, leaning down next to her. Her face, which had been a mask of worry and anxiety was now replaced with serene understanding. "All of the parents know. You just want to protect us and the city and we understand you have a lot of responsibility for everyone in the city and I'm proud of you."

Kimberly leaned back in her seat and gazed up at her mother. "Then why are you always on my case about Tommy? He hasn't done anything to hurt me, ever. And you're always being so hard on him."

"Because I don't want you to get so tied down while you're still so young. You have the rest of your life to figure out who you want and what you want, and what you want to be. There's so much out there for you to experience and enjoy about life and I don't want you to get hurt." Ms. Hart's eyes then lowered as she stood up and moved behind her daughter once more. "I don't want you to get hurt like I did."

So that was it. _She's worried about how Daddy left her_ …Kim didn't know her mother thought about it a lot. She seemed to have been moving on pretty well considering. I guess I was wrong. "I'll be okay, Mom. I'm stronger than that." _Or, at least, I used to be_.

"I know, Kimmy, I know."

Ms. Hart finally put the brush down and kissed her daughter on the back of the head before giving her a critical look through the mirror. "I guess it's a bit late for me to talk to you about safe sex and all that." At her daughter's expression of pure embarrassment and horror, Ms. Hart laughed and backed away. "Okay, okay, but I would like to have Tommy over one day so I can talk to both of you about your advancement in your relationship."

"Mom!" Kimberly cried. "Like, totally freak me out! That's gross!"

"I'm sorry, but I need to be sure that you two are being safe and that he doesn't intend to break up with you now that it's happened." Ms. Hart shrugged. " I know you keep saying he's not like that, but you don't know for sure. I'm just worried."

"And I'm not, Mom. We're friends, too, and we respect each other." Kimberly reached out and grabbed her mother's hand. "I'm not your little girl anymore and you can't take care of me forever. Right now, I'm taking care of you." Kimberly stood up and gave her mother a kiss not he cheek, resting her hands on her mother's shoulders. "I'm going to be late to meet up with my friends if I don't get going, soon."

"All right, sweetie. Have a good day. I made you some breakfast, it's waiting not he table for you."

"Okay, thanks Mom."

Kimberly smiled as her mother left her bedroom, then flopped back onto her bed. How many times was she going to have this conversation with her? What they needed to do was sit down and talk about what really happened between her mother and father. It had been so long since they had gotten divorced and he left the two of them. Kim had been so young and no one had told her why her Daddy had decided to move out and wasn't going to be around as much as he used to be. _If he stuck around…_

Shaking her head, Kimberly sat up and went to her closet to get dressed. It was best not to think about 'what if's at that time of day. Especially with things she couldn't change. Kimberly had just put on her workout clothes and packed her gym bag when she noticed something fluttering to the ground near her. _What's that?_ Bending over, ignoring the wave of dizziness that washed over her, Kimberly picked up the items that fell to the ground. It was thin and shiny, gliding through her fingers. Confused, Kimberly tilted her head to the side and saw it happen again.

Something fluttered to the ground.

Still, she couldn't quite place what it was.

The pink ranger stood up and put on a large t-shirt and jean shorts over her workout clothes before heading downstairs to the kitchen. Her mother was at the table, reading _Cosmopolitan Magazine_ as Kim joined her.

She looked at the toast, bacon, and eggs that were on her plate and went through the motions that had become second nature to her. First, using her fork, she mashed up her eggs, moving it around her plate so that it looked like she had eaten more of it. Then, being sure her mother's attention was still on the magazine she ripped bits of her toast and dropped it into the napkin. Finally, she used another napkin to wrap her bacon inside and tucked it into her pocket.

Lifting her eyes, Kimberly let out a quiet sigh of relief when she noticed that her mother was still into her magazine, engrossed into the article that explained how to keep wrinkles at bay. With a light smile, the corner of her lips tugging upwardsv, the pink ranger nibbled the last few bites of her eggs and toast before picking up her plate and heading towards the sink.

Ms. Hart looked up at her daughter with raised eyebrows.

"You're finished already?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was really hungry. I just have to get my wallet and my phone and I have to get to the Youth Center for practice," Kimberly explained. She backed out of the room, being careful to keep her napkins full of food tucked down in her pocket.

Racing upstairs, Kimberly went to the bathroom and tossed the napkins into her wastebasket. She was careful to hide the basket behind the cleaning supplies, then lifted the toilet seat and stuck her fingers down her throat. It didn't take long for her to throw up. Spitting for a few seconds, she closed the lid, flushed, washed her hands, then rushed out the door; yelling goodbye to her mother as she went.

Once she at the Youth Center Kimberly dropped her bag by the balance beam and changed into her workout clothes. Taking in a few deep breaths to calm herself, Kimberly placed her fingertips atop the balance beam. Opening her eyes, finally ready, Kim looked across the youth center and spotted a older man with graying hair, staring at her.

He sat across the Youth Center from her, dressed in a colorful tracksuit. He stared hard at her, watching her every movement with a strange intensity. Focusing, Kimberly swung herself up onto the balance beam, then moved through her routine.

Much like when she was practicing gymnastics, everything around her melted away. There were no ranger duties to worry about, no monsters, no training, no powers, nothing but her and the beam. She twisted and twirled and flipped around the beam with ease, closing her eyes at the moments she hadn't needed to focus. It was second nature to her, her life's obsession. Nothing had come close to her love for gymnastics. Ever since she was a little girl and she had turned down soccer, field hockey, and ballet for sports to take part in.

Her father had become frustrated at her lack of interest in sports until she had caught a glimpse of the Olympics. Kimberly had looked up her doll in timeout and watched with wide eyes as a young girl executed impressive tricks on the beam. The gracefulness of the girl in every move she made continued to keep the pink ranger rooted to the spot, tiny mouth dropped open. She hadn't realized she was so transfixed upon the sport until she found herself with her face pressed against the screen.

Once the segment ended and she saw the girl had won; Kimberly turned to her parents and declared she wanted to be a gymnast when she grew up. Her father, happy that she had finally decided what she wanted to do, immediately signed her up for classes and she loved it ever since.

Now she didn't know a life without it, despite knowing she was getting close to the retirement age of the sport. No matter where her future ended up with the sport, she knew for sure that she at least wanted to coach her own team of gymnasts.

Those thoughts caused a smile to worm its way onto her face as she opened her eyes. Taking a few steps forward she swung her arms down as she jumped, doing two complete revolutions in a front flip, and landed on the mat below. Straightening, she swung her arms over her head and turned towards her imaginary audience with a bright smile on her face. Nice job, Kim, that was the best you've ever done, she thought, going over to her bag to retrieve her fluffy pink towel. It was then she noticed the white ninja ranger coming her way, causing an even wider smile to come to her face.

"Hey Handsome," she greeted him.

"Hey Beautiful," he replied and gave her a hug, surprised when she gave him a long kiss as he pulled back. "Not that I'm not pleasantly surprised, but what was that for?"

"I don't know," Kimberly shrugged playfully. "I'm just in a great mood. My Mom and I had a good conversation about some stuff, one of the best we've had in a long time." She reached out a hand and paled it on Tommy's forearm as she lowered her voice. "Despite losing my power coin, I still have a lot to smile about. Especially you."

Tommy blushed before leaning in and kissing her. When he pulled back, he tucked her hair over her ear then caressed her cheek with his palm. "That's exactly what I needed to hear this morning. You really know the way to a man's heart."

"I thought the way to a man's heart was by his stomach."

"And through flattering ego boosters."

Tommy laughed as Kimberly rolled her eyes. She looked around before lowering her voice even more. "So I was thinking about what we did before that party," she said and Tommy's eyebrows rose in surprise and intrigue. "And, I was thinking that maybe you could come by later tonight for some dinner and to hang out, and we could see where things go from there…?" She gave a warm smile, disarming him for a second.

Appearing dazed, Tommy looked away for a moment, a bright smile on his face. Then his eyes landed on someone behind the pink ranger and his eyebrows furrowed together. "Hey Kim, do you know who that is?"

Kimberly looked over her shoulder and shook her head. "No. I have no idea who he is. But he's been watching me all practice. He was here before I got here, though." She turned her head to the side and looked over at him again. "Actually, he seems kind of familiar."

"Well, let's go see what he wants." Tommy pulled back from Kimberly's grasp and moved around the balance beam and over to the man. As the white and pink ninja ranger's approached, the man got to his feet and cast them both with a warm smile. "Hi there," Tommy greeted him. "I'm Tommy and this is my girlfriend, Kimberly. How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking," the man replied. He held out his hand towards the two rangers and they shook their hands with a firm grip. "My name is Gunter Schmidt."

Kimberly let out a squeak, then found another way to express her excitement. By slapping Tommy on the arm. "I can't believe it. I'm…oh gosh, I'm acting like such a nerd. But I can't believe I'm meeting you." She stopped slapping her boyfriend, who was on the verge of cowering in fear, and appeared ashamed. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

Coach Schmidt chuckled. "Yes, well, there are times that I prefer to notice others." He cleared his throat before motioning to her. "It is my pleasure to meet you. Kimberly, I've been following your career for some time now and you truly do have remarkable talent."

"Thank you," Kimberly said in a high-pitched voice, unable to keep her excitement at bay. "Thank you so much, that means a lot to me coming from you. I mean, you've coached some of the best girls in gymnastics in the Pan Globals, the Olympics…"

"And I can see you there as well," Coach Schmidt continued. "There are trials for the Pan Global Games coming up soon, I trust that you will be there to try out." Kimberly opened her mouth to reply then closed it once more, chewing her lower lip. There was no way she was even close to being ready for it.

Not on this short notice. Coach Schmidt must've noticed her hesitation for he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I will train you to become one that will take the Pan Globals and the Olympics by storm. I've followed your career to know that you don't have a choice and I will be honored to have you as my protégé as we train towards that goal."

Kimberly squealed again, glancing over at Tommy as he smiled back at her, a smile that was even wider than hers. She waited for this day for forever and it was finally here. I can't wait to tell Mom. She reached out and took Coach Schmidt's offered hand. "I'd love that. Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, we can get started tomorrow bright and early," Coach Schmidt replied, placing his hand over hers. He then let go and waved to both Tommy and Kimberly before turning on his heel and leaving the youth center.

Kimberly was wrapped up and Tommy's arms and was before she could fathom what had just happened. Her head swam with happiness. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened. Did that really just happen?" She asked, just to be sure.

"It just happened," Tommy reassured her. He gave her a loud kiss on the cheek before framing her face with his hands. "I'm so proud of you. We have to go out and celebrate. With everyone! I know they'll be just as happy for you."

"Ok. Ok." Kimberly brought her hands up to her forehead before fanning herself. Why was everything so hot? Wasn't he AC on? Out of the corner of her eye she could see Tommy cast her a curious glance and she quickly moved her hands away from her face. "Um, just let me get some more practice in and then we can all go out for lunch and have a movie night or something? We haven't had one in a while." She then brought her hands up over her mouth. "Oh, but what about our date?"

"That's alright." Tommy gave her a sly smile. "We can still hang out when the others leave."

Kimberly laughed, threw her arms around the white ninja ranger's neck and kissed him long and slow. "I love you, Tommy."

"I love you, too, Kim," Tommy replied. He rested his forehead against hers for a moment before pulling back. "I'll go tell the others the good news and we can figure out where to go. You have a good practice and I'll pick you up later." Kimberly giggled and waved goodbye then swung herself back onto the balance beam, restarting her routine.

This time with even more confidence than before.

She practiced for a few hours before gathering her things and hurrying back home to get showered and changed. She had just finished blow drying her hair when she noticed a large clump had fallen off into her hand. A light gasp escaped her lips as she moved the pieces of hair through her fingers.

 _No, please no._ Kimberly shook the hair off of her fingers and tossed it into her wastebasket before tying her hair up into a ponytail. She had just sat down on her bed, to put her shoes on, when an even stronger wave of dizziness washed over her.

Her vision tilted and she slumped onto her bed.


	32. Pink Pride

**Chapter 32**

Pink Pride (2)

* * *

Avalon tapped her foot against the ground as she leaned back against the hospital wall, eyes closed and her face angled up towards the ceiling. Arms crossed over her chest, her foot rapidly tapped against the ground as the seconds passed. She let out a low sigh and opened her eyes, lowering her chin once more. Holding her feet still, she started to lightly tap her hands against the walls behind her, her rings making clacking sounds as she did so.

"Would you please stop that?" Rocky asked after a few moments of her tapping. He leaned forward and ran his hands over his face. "That's _really_ starting to get on my nerves."

"Yeah, well, being here is starting to get on my nerves," the orange ninja ranger mumbled before sliding to the floor, wrapping her arm around her knees. It was only a matter of moments until she felt her feet start to tap up and down once more. She couldn't sit still and she wasn't sure if it was because of knowing that Kim was getting looked at or if it was because she absolutely hated the idea of hospitals in general. At the moment in time, she had to guess it was the latter.

She hadn't had a problem with them before having been shot; now, she couldn't stand the atmosphere of being there. With sickness, trauma and tension swirling around in spades she wanted to do nothing more than get as far away from there as possible.

"Does anyone know how much longer she's going to be in there?" Aisha asked. She tucked her braids behind her ears and chewed her lower lip worryingly.

Avalon looked up at her and shrugged before taking stock of the rest of her friends. Bailey sat at her side, playing with her cuticles while Fred sat on her other side, playing a game on his phone. The orange ninja ranger glanced at the rest of the rangers as they sat scattered along the hallway. Tommy paced back and forth, alternatively placing his hands on his hips or laced his fingers, resting them on the back of his head. Back and forth he went, over and over, jumping at the sound of nearly every door that opened. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha sat in the chairs that had been set up, each waiting quietly. Rocky had started out the trip to the hospital, waiting to hear about the news of Kim, with jokes, trying to get the other rangers to laugh.

But as soon as he had found the other rangers unresponsive to his attempts to make light of the situation, he had fallen as sullen and quiet as the others. Billy leaned against the wall on the other side of the hallway, staring straight ahead, looking over towards doctors and nurses that walked by each time they approached, but didn't say anything otherwise. Jason, like Tommy, paced every now and then, trying to stay as calm as possible. Even Kat, who had come as soon as she heard the news of Kim's collapsing, sat with the rangers, looking up hopefully as a doctor passed by.

They had been there for hours and still nothing.

"I don't know, Aisha," Tommy finally said. He let out a long sigh, running his hands over his hair one more. "We haven't been told anything since we got here." He looked up as Ms. Hart turned the corner and walked over to the group. The white ninja ranger turned around and hurried towards her. "Is everything okay? Is Kim alright?"

Ms. Hart blinked as the other ranger got to their feet and started to barrage her with multiple questions. She held up her hands and waved for them to be quiet. Once she got the attention of the rangers, she let out a calm breath. "She's awake and has been for a while. But there needs to be some tests run. Though some things have certainly come to light." She let out a deep breath, looking over each of the ranger's faces with hesitation.

"So…is she okay?" Kat pressed. Her hands were clasped together as she gently licked her lips.

Ms. Hart let out another sigh and turned away for a moment, reaching up to wipe a tear away from her cheek. "Kim is…they're saying that Kim is at a very low weight. A lot lower than should be normal. As a matter of fact the doctor is saying that she is very malnourished and that she would need to go into some special care."

"What does that mean?" Bailey pressed.

Avalon held her breath as she glanced over at Adam, who kept his eyes on Ms. Hart. She just wanted to hear the woman say it out loud. What Adam and Jason had suspected and what the others, minus Tommy, Bailey, and Fred had all expressed their worries about. But was that really the worst of their worry? There was more to think about if their suspicions were confirmed. What would happen if she did get her Power Coin back? Did that mean that the effects on her body would be reversed? Would all signs of her potential sickness go away? What if something happened _before_ they could get to her?

The orange ranger was practically shaking, quivering like a Chihuahua as she waited for the response. But Ms. Hart continued to hesitate, as if trying to find the words herself that would allow her to see the truth. Finally, she closed her eyes, took a deep calming breath, and lowered her shoulders. "The doctors believe she may have an eating disorder," she finally said. "Anorexia, to be precise."

The response to the news was nothing short of how anyone would react. Jason swore loudly and turned, punching the wall as hard as he could. Tommy brought his hands up over his face and let out a long, hollow sound, Aisha rubbed the back of her neck before tears started to fall down her cheeks prompting Rocky to bring her into his side while the black ranger rubbed her back. Fred brought his hat down from his head and bunched it up against his chest, gently placing his hand on Bailey's shoulder as she swallowed hard. Those were responses anyone was to have. Normal responses.

No one ever said Avalon was normal.

She stared at the woman as she continued her explanation with, "I'm so sorry if this is a surprise to all of you. It's a surprise to me, too. I didn't think there was anything wrong…she hid it so well." Ms. Hart reached up and dabbed at her eyes. "I know she was working out a lot, I know there was a lot on her plate…I never thought it would get to this point."

"I think we should be the one to apologize, Ms. Hart," Adam said quietly. He cleared his throat and glanced over at Tommy, as the white ranger whipped around to look at him. "Some of us…not all of us…had some suspicions but we weren't sure. Um." He licked his lips. "I saw Kim throwing up once and…she said she was having trouble with how she was seeing herself."

"What?" Tommy asked, eyebrows rising.

"And she was also saying how she felt…" he trailed off, glancing meaningfully around at his friends before turning his attention back towards the pink ranger's mother. "Inadequate, compared to the rest of us with our talents…"

A light smile slid onto Ms. Hart's face but she didn't outright say what it was that she knew he was talking about. She understood it was to be a secret and didn't want to risk revealing it to anyone else within hearing distance. Then her smile faded. "The doctors say they're trying to convince Kim to get some help, but she insists that there's nothing she needs help with."

"You can't help someone that doesn't ask for it," Avalon murmured. As all eyes turned towards her, she felt something inside snap and was hit with an overwhelming sense of anger, frustration, and…helplessness. "I have to get out of here." Turning on her heel, she started to walk down the hall. It didn't take long for her to hear footsteps following directly behind her.

"Ava!" She heard Billy call after her. "Ava, wait!"

Gritting her teeth, the orange ranger increased her stride and moved quicker down the hallway until she found the entrance to the hospital. By the time she passed the nurse's station, her breathing was erratic, keeping her on the verge of falling into a panic attack. She held tightly onto her elbows, hugging her arms to her chest lest she start swinging towards anyone that got to close or got in her way.

She felt Billy grab onto her arm and pull her around. "Av, stop!"

"What?" She spat, glaring up at him. "What do you want?"

Billy ran a hand over his face, under the guise of running a hand through his hair, but wiping at his eye. They were tinged a light red as if he was doing his best not to cry. Now that the orange ranger thought about it, she couldn't remember ever seeing the blue ranger cry, not even when he lost his mother. He had held so strong since then and now…she wasn't sure what was going on. What was it that had him start to become very worried in this circumstance, but couldn't even shed a tear for someone that had been ripped from his life so quickly and unfairly?

"Where are you going?" the blue ninja ranger finally asked. "You can't just run off like that?"

"I can't?" The orange ninja ranger tilted her head to the side. "I don't feel comfortable here. As a matter of fact, I hate it here. I hate the feeling that the walls are closing in on me, like I'm being suffocated. I can _not_ go back there and see her lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming from her body and…and monitors beeping all over the place."

"But she's not," Billy reassured her. He reached out and placed his arms on her shoulders, bringing his hands up and holding onto her face, forcing her to look at him. "It's like you already said…she doesn't think she needs the help. And she may truly believe that she doesn't and if all of that is true, then we have to be there for her."

"You're acting like I don't want to be. I _do_! I just can't bloody do that _in here!"_

Closing her eyes, Avalon was immediately reminded of the time she had been in the hospital bed with a bullet wound in her shoulder and three member of the Angel Grove Police Department knowing her secret of being a power ranger. It was hell. Nothing as worse than lying there and not knowing she was going to die—not from the bullet wound, but from the rest of the Vipers that were bound to try and get back at her for leaving the gang. That was something she was never going to forget.

Now the thought of one of her best friends having to be put there, knowing that she was wasting away not only without her Power Coin but due to the dangerous choices she made in her own right. How was she going to be a gymnast if she continued to think there was nothing wrong with what she was doing?

There was just so much wrong with everything and she couldn't stand it.

"I understand that, I just don't want you to go out and do something stupid because you're overwhelmed." Lowering her gaze, Avalon nodded. She then let out a loud sigh. "We're all worried about her, Ava. I don't even know what to think if something else goes wrong. The worst thing that could happen is if she goes into battle right now, knowing how stubborn she can be…" he shook his head and Avalon raised her gaze once more. She could see now, how worried he truly was. "To know she has been starving herself to try and be as good as the rest of us as rangers…I can't even imagine to think what would've happened if this kept going on. I can't believe I didn't see it coming." He started to pace back and forth, much like Tommy and Jason had done before. "I mean, statistics show that those who are in sports that have such a high importance on your appearance fall under this sort of thing, but you don't expect it to happen to a friend."

"Stop!" Avalon held her hands over her ears.

That made sense. Of course that was how Billy was going to deal with it, like he dealt with a lot of things. Scientifically, systematically. She normally liked that about him. That he always had a different way of thinking that set him apart from the others, that gave him reason to come up with some of the better plans they had of defeating monsters. Coming up with last minute inventions and schemes that helped the rangers come out on top of fights that looked like they were going to lose. It's how he worked though his mother's death and it was how he was going to work through Kim's disorder. In a way that would keep him an arm's length away from the emotions that would come with it, much like the lone wolf he could be.

And it made her sick.

Now the images in her head shifted to a vision of Kim and how she had been lying on her bed, when she was found by Tommy. She hadn't seen it personally; she and the other rangers had already been at the Youth Center where they were to meet up before going off to the restaurant when they received the white ranger's frantic call. She couldn't bear to see her best friend all skin and bones, especially because she hadn't seen it coming either. Nevertheless, she knew the ultimate outcome of her sickness.

What would happen if Kim continued to decide not to accept treatment…and she couldn't face that. Not again. Not after so many people had already left her. Not when she had lost faith in the man that was to be her father, despite trying to work on their relationship, knowing that her mother had given up her rights to them as well despite having a good reason. Knowing how isolating that being a power ranger was despite the friendship they all managed to create with each other. No, she couldn't stand the idea of losing anyone else, not again.

Never again.

"I can't take this. I have to get out of here." Avalon started to leave once more and Billy reached out and grabbed onto her wrist, holding her in the spot. "Smurf, please let go."

"Please don't leave, Ava," he replied, voice low, shaking slightly. "Please. I need you…"

"Billy."

"Please."

"Let her go, Billy."

The orange and blue ninja rangers turned around and watched as Jason walked their way with Kat by his side. He nodded over at the girl who appeared to still be crying and she nodded back, walking over to an empty chair that was sitting in the corner of the room. She sat down and dabbed at her eyes, starting to stare at the ground a conflicting expression on her face. Every now and then, the blonde girl appeared sad, and then second later a small, smug smile would appear on her face. Over and over again as if she was being tortured.

"If she needs to go, then she needs to go," he continued. "It's not going to help anyone if…" he trailed off, licking his lips. His chest swelled as he took in a shuddering breath, his eyes shining. "We're all on edge right now and we have to deal with this in our own ways. We won't be allowed to see her for a bit, the doctors and her mother are still talking to her, trying to get her to admit—"His voice caught in his throat. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure and he repeated, "Let her go."

Billy stared at his friend for a long moment then turned back to the orange ninja ranger. He dropped his hand from her wrist and Avalon took the opportunity to hurry out of the hospital.

Her footsteps were slow for the first few moments, and then she started to pick up speed at a light jog. A light jog that lasted a few seconds before she was in a run, then a sprint. She sprinted down the sidewalk turned the corner and continued to run as far as her legs could carry her. Even when she slowed down from a sprint she continued to run and run. The buildings of Angel Grove flashed past her as she ran through the shopping district, playgrounds and schools whizzed by; parks, houses, the high school and middle school. She passed them by without a second thought and pushed herself forward.

Finally, the overwhelming feeling that had hit her so much earlier that day erupted and a sob escaped her lips. Slowing, the orange ranger fell to her knees and started to sob loudly. Reaching out, she placed her palms on the ground and continued to cry until her body racked with silent sobs, heart pounding against her chest so hard she wanted to throw up. Then there were the dry-heaves, the gasps that allowed her lungs only moments of precious air before she heaved once more. And as suddenly as her desperation and hysteria came upon her, it was gone. Everything around her was silent.

Lifting her head, the orange ninja ranger took in her surroundings. She slowly straightened herself, and then spun in a slow circle. The dilapidated warehouses and buildings stared back at her, as silent and eerie as they always had been when she continuously met up there with Chase, Skye, and Summer. Her feet moved before she realized that she had started walking towards the warehouse that used to be the headquarters for the Vipers. Stepping inside, she looked around. It appeared as it always had; holes in the roof that allowed trickling light to filter inside, large spots of rust on the walls that mixed with the splashes of blood from their fallen gang members.

In that warehouse she had seen knife fights, fist fights, plans developed and executed for extortion and kidnapping. She had been there along with the others, thinking of things that would allow them to get the upper hand on the High-Flyers. The plotting and the maps that were of the residences and stores they would rob to take the largest items and sell them. She saw every single thing she had done with the Vipers play out in front of her. But this time, she didn't feel ashamed as she had before, now she felt stronger.

Different.

Separated from the life she had before and the one she had now. She knew what was important. Not being a ranger, not saving Angel Grove and those that lived there. No. Now was the time she had to think about saving Kim. To get her Power Coin and return it so that she could have a stronger life force, which would keep her alive no matter how much longer she continued to den she had a problem.

 _Her life is much more important than her pride_ Avalon thought. She took a deep breath and turned around, continuing to look through the warehouse. She ran her hand down her arm and her fingers ran over the communicator. Snapping back to attention, the orange ninja ranger looked at the holes in the ceiling one more. The sunlight didn't shine as strongly as it had before signaling that hours had passed since she left the hospital. _I bet they're wondering where I am right now._ Bringing her hand down, she pressed her fingers against the communicator and teleported back to the hospital.

She was hesitant to go in, not just because of how she felt while being there. Even standing on the sidewalk outside of it made her skin crawl; made her briefly wonder if she was suffering from PTSD or actually going crazy. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and walked into the hospital, heading towards the room she and the other rangers had crowded around. Arriving, Bailey looked up and immediately leapt off of the ground.

"Av!" She hurried over to her sister and hugged her tightly, which the orange ranger gratefully returned. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, girl," Aisha agreed as she came over as well. She gave her a hug as well. "You were gone for a long time. We were starting to get worried about you. We were going to come look for you."

Avalon looked at the yellow ninja ranger and saw nothing but warmth and concern in her eyes. It easily combated the hysteria and fear that had overwhelmed the Australian teen before. Which was just what she needed. "Yeah, I…I needed some time to think. To wrap my head around things."

"Well, I can understand that." Tilting her head back down the hallway, she motioned to Ms. Hart, who was talking with a doctor. "The doctors just allowed us to go into Kim's room. She's okay. The doctors are still concerned, though."

"That'd be right," Avalon agreed. She ran a hand through her hair, letting out a more confident breath this time around. _Ace. Then this won't be so hard._

"She looks really scary," Bailey murmured, now standing close to her sister's side, almost leaning on her. "That's why I had to come out here. I can't look at her like that. It's too scary." Avalon put her arm around her sister's shoulder and hugged her for a long moment. _I know the feeling, Sis._ She looked over at the yellow ranger once more before taking the first few steps into the hospital room.

What she wasn't surprised to find was that her worst nightmare, that every hospital room in the world looked the same, was true. What surprised her the most was turning towards the pink ranger, who sat on the edge of her bed, with a bright smile on her face, holding onto Tommy's hand and speaking with the rangers animatedly. _You wouldn't ever know that she had just passed out a few hours beforehand,_ Avalon thought with a grudging amount of respect. When the pink ranger looked at her, her eyes lit up like sparkling diamonds. _She's much stronger than she looks._

"I was wondering where you were," Kimberly said. She opened her arms and Avalon dropped her arm from her sister and went over to Kim, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. As her hands lay on the pink ranger's back, she could feel her ribs underneath her shirt, every ridge and bump. "I was starting to think you weren't going to come visit me."

"Hospitals aren't usually my place to hang out, yeah?" Tucking her hair behind her ear, Avalon dropped her arms and moved back away from her friend. She turned her gaze towards Billy and he looked away from her. "Besides, I needed to think. About you, about your Power Coin." She shook her head. "I'm not going to let you die, Kim. I'm not going to have anyone else leave me." She trailed off after a moment as the realization of the words crashed onto her.

This was one of the few times she was really opening up, becoming vulnerable to her friends. The first few times being when she revealed her work with the Vipers to the original rangers, then to Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. It was still nerve-wracking and she wanted nothing more than to keep her knees from shaking and to show how confident she wanted to be; vulnerability wasn't something she was incredibly used to. This time, however, she wasn't angry, she was determined.

Kimberly made a face, before shaking her head. A light laugh escaped her lips. "I'm not…I'm not going to die, Av."

"Like hell you're not. Power Coin or not, you're _sick_ , Kim. Sick. Even if you don't want to admit it, you are. And I care about you enough to not want anything to happen to you, anything that we can control."

"So what do you want to do?" Rocky asked. He tilted his head to the side, scratching the side of his head, utterly confused. "Go walking up to Rita and Zedd and give ourselves up so that we can get the Power Coin back? I don't think that's going to work."

"No." Avalon shook her head firmly. She looked down at Kimberly and reached out, grabbing onto her hand. She looked hard into her best friend's eyes before turning back to the rangers. "We'll wait for them to attack again; Zordon says they have evil ancient zords, they have to be powered by Kim's coin."

"And when they come out with those zords, we'll use that time to destroy them and get the coin back," Tommy said, understanding the orange ranger's plan. She nodded in agreement. There was a long pause around the room. Despite it being Kim's idea, it was Tommy who would be making the final call, as the leader.

"Tommy?" Billy prompted.

Avalon turned to her friend and waited, pressing her lips together. The white ranger ran a hand through his hair and turned to Kim. She reached out and grabbed onto his hand, squeezing it firmly. Removing her other hand from Avalon's she placed it on top of the white ranger's. "Zordon said something about being able to restore my powers via the use of yours, if that's what it's going to take to stop them…to stop those zords before they destroy the city, we have to try it."

"And what happens when that power gets depleted?" Aisha demanded. She shook her head. "We can't do that."

"You don't have a choice," Jason reminded her. "The fate of Angel Grove depends on it. If those zords are as bad dudes as they say they are, then you're going to have to make a lot of sacrifices…a lot of tough decisions to do what's right. Just like we did with our parents."

Tommy pressed his lips together then nodded. "We'll teleport to the Command Center and transfer our powers to Kim, anything that'll give her more power to fight alongside us. Those ancient zords will be no match for us. Rita and Zedd haven't won before and they won't win now."

* * *

It didn't take long for the rangers to get to the Command Center. What took a long time was coming up with a plausible excuse for Jason to relay to the doctors and nurses that suddenly noticed the rangers were absent. Once arriving Fred, Bailey, and Alpha immediately got to work, preparing the machine that was to have the ranger' powers combine and transfer to Kimberly so that she could fight alongside them. The others milled around the Command Center floor, waiting for things to get started.

"Zordon, is there anything you can tell us about these ancient zords?" Tommy asked their mentor. He sat on the ground, underneath a control panel, with Kimberly by his side. Avalon had the sneaking suspicion that he truly wasn't going to let her out of his sight when they were in battle. "Anything you think we'd be able to use to get an upper hand on them?"

"The ancient zords are very formidable zords that had been abandoned years before. They aided the side of good very well against the side of evil," Zordon explained. "If Rita and Zedd have control of those zords, it is detrimental that you either sever the link Zedd has with them and turn them to our side, or destroy them all together. There is no other option."

As the words sank in with the rangers, Avalon pushed herself away from the control panel she had been standing at, just staring down at the buttons and knobs that sat before her. Now she wasn't so sure about what they were to do. Maybe she had been too quick to think of a plan that would stop Rita and Zedd. Maybe it was better that she sat back and did what she was told to do rather than take the lead.

"You shouldn't doubt yourself." Looking up, Avalon noticed that Billy had moved to her side and was looking down at her. "Decisions like this are always hard to make…but a decision had to be made." He cleared his throat, moving his hands into his jeans pockets, causing Avalon to smile a little, recognizing the stance that showed his ease. "I believe this will work."

"Really? Cause I'm really feeling aggro about it." Avalon made a clicking sound with her mouth. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a tendency to feel something and run with it."

"I've noticed."

The orange ninja ranger rolled her eyes and turned towards him. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened before. I just…I can't bloody stand the thought of losing Kim…or any of you guys. I've been left so much that the thought of it happening again just…" She shook her head. "I can't stand the thought of any of you guys getting hurt and I guess this just drove me crazy. It's not that I couldn't understand the seriousness of it, I just…" she rubbed her arm. "Had to get out of there. I couldn't face it."

Billy looked amused. "Never thought I'd see the day where you apologize." His comment received a light swat on his arm. "I should be apologizing as much as you are," he added. "I guess I couldn't understand where you were coming from and I wanted you to see what I was feeling. Which was selfish in a way."

"It wasn't selfish, Smurf," Av reassured him. "You were feeling just as badly as I was. But, in a different way, I guess. I should've understood." Now she appeared shy, bowing her head. "I really care about you, too, you know."

"I'd hope so," Billy agreed. He reached out and tucked some of Avalon's hair behind her ear. "It's nice to know that you'd fight that hard for any of us."

"Mm. I'd fight harder for you."

Billy smiled and Avalon gave him a hug, holding onto him tightly. The blue ninja ranger returned her embrace, letting go when Fred turned away from the control panel with a bright smile on his face. "We've managed to disconnect Kimberly's life force from the force of the Power Coin," he said.

"Now there's no danger for her life force to continue fading away as long as Rita and Zedd still have her coin in their possession," Bailey added. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she twisted her mouth to the side. "Unfortunately, we don't know what that means for her health in general, considering what we've just found out as well as how much life force has already been taken away from her."

Kim managed a brave smile. "Nothing's going to take the crane down that easily."

"That's good to hear, Kim," Adam said.

"Now, what does this mean for us giving Kim her powers?" Rocky prompted them.

Alpha took a few steps forward as Bailey moved to take her place amongst the rangers. "You all will be able to share your power with Kimberly so that she's still able to morph. However, you're not going to be able to hold onto it for long or else your powers will be depleted in the process. She must be reunited with her old coin."

"She will be," Avalon said firmly. "We'll make sure that happens."

Tommy nodded and took in a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he brought up his hands. Kimberly moved to his side and closed her eyes, bringing her hands up as well, her left palm pressed against Tommy's right. The other ninja rangers fell into place around the circle, pressing their palms against each other's as they concentrated on their power. The Command Center was filled with swirls of light in the ranger's colors until they landed on Kimberly, illuminating her for a few moments. Once the light faded, the rangers lowered their hands just in time for the warning alarm to go off and a picture to appear on the viewing globe.

The rangers watched as Rito, in an enlarged form, stomped through Angel Grove, laughing and waving his sword over his head.

"Looks like it's time to figure out if this worked," Rocky said, eyebrows lowering in concentration, ready to fight.

"Looks like it," Tommy agreed. He looked over at his friends, waiting until they all gave him a sign of confirmation. There was a mechanical cry and he looked over to find the miniature versions of their zords racing over to their pilots. "Let's do it. It's morphin' time! White ranger power!"

"Purple ranger power!"

"Orange ranger power!"

"Black ranger power!"

"Pink ranger power!"

"Blue ranger power!"

"Yellow ranger power!"

"Red ranger power!"

The rangers morphed and teleported over to the site as Rito continued to wreak havoc on the city. He stopped when he spotted the rangers on the ground near him. With a loud laugh, he pressed his hands to his knees and squatted down to face them. "Oh, look. Little ranger figurines. Aww, they look so cute. It's too bad I have to squish you."

"That's what you think," Tommy said. He brought an arm up to shield his face from the sun, just in time to see Rito's foot come crashing towards him. Kimberly leapt up and knocked into him, the force of her hit propelling the two away from his foot as it connected with the ground.

Avalon flipped backwards as Rito's foot came crashing down. The ground shook, knocking the rangers off their feet as they tried to catch their balance. Then Rito's scent permeated the air. "Whoo!" The orange ranger waved her hand in front of her face. "Talk about a foot fungus."

"You got that right," Aisha agreed, backing away as quickly as she could.

"This is fun!" Rito declared, lifting up his foot once more. "It's like squishing rainbow colored ants." He started to bring it back down, causing the rangers to scatter again. Billy grabbed Bailey into his arms as the two tumbled out of the way, coming to a stop by the black ninja ranger.

"We're sitting ducks out here," Adam said.

"You can say that again, mate," Bailey said.

"I think it's time that we bring in the heavy artillery, Tommy," Kimberly said to him.

"I think you're right. We need ninjazord power, now!"

"Orange Tiger, ninja zord, power up!"

"Purple Lion, ninja zord, power up!"

"Red Ape, ninja zord, power up!"

"Black Frog, ninja zord, power up!"

"Pink Crane, ninja zord, power up!"

"Blue Wolf, ninja zord, power up!"

"Yellow Bear, ninja zord, power up!"

"White Ninja, Falconzord, power up!"

The zords came out of hiding and the rangers leapt into the cockpits of their respective zords. Once inside her zord, Avalon grabbed onto the control sticks of her zord and maneuvered it to flank the left side of the ninja Megazord while Bailey did the same with her lion zord on the right. Their zords wouldn't be needed until they were meant for added artillery.

"Well, fine, I didn't like playing with you guys anyway!" Rito declared. He lifted his hand up to his eyes and shot out a bolt of energy towards the Ninja Megazord.

"Not so fast!" Bailey maneuvered her lion zord in front of the Ninja Megazord. The lion zord's mane started to spin before panels opened up, allowing missiles to fly towards Rito. A few crashed on the ground behind him but two others were a direct hit, knocking him to the ground. "Gotcha!"

"Nice job, Bay!" Tommy congratulated her. "But he's not done yet." As he spoke, Rito got back to his feet; a low, dark growl came from the skeleton monster's throat. With a cry, he lifted his sword and charged towards the rangers.

The Ninja Megazord brought up their sword and turned it to the side, catching Rito's blade against theirs. The Megazord traded blows with Rito as the two massive beings spun around and around, blocking each other's slashes. Whenever the time presented itself, Avalon and Bailey would lunge their tiger and lion zords at Rito and would slash them with their claws or strong tackles. On one pass around, Avalon instructed the orange tiger ninja zord to open its mouth wide and shoot out a stream of fire towards Rito.

"Hey! I'm already barbecued; I don't need you to dry my bones out even more!" Rito declared, leaping backwards. He dusted off his bones and rolled his head, facing the rangers.

"Give up, Rito!" Adam called.

"You can't stop us!" Rocky added

The Ninja Megazord, the purple lion zord, and the orange tiger zord all stalked towards Rito. The bone monster tilted his head to the side and watched as they came towards him. "Oh, so you think three against one is fair? What about six against three?" He held up his arms and with a bolt of light the five ancient zords came down from the sky and surrounded Rito.

"Oh boy," Billy breathed. "This is going to be harder than we thought. I think it's time that we disengage, Tommy."

"I think you're right, Billy," Tommy agreed. "Disengage Ninja Megazord."

And with that the rangers piloted their own zords and went on the offensive against the ancient zords and Rito. The Flacon and Crane zords went after Rito, soaring around him and attacking all at once. While Kimberly used the extending whip from the Crane to wrap Rito's arms to his sides, the Falconzord soared around and sent a barrage of rockets at Rito, striking him. Rocky and Aisha had a similar tactic as Rocky used the Ape zord to grab onto the red ancient zord and hold it still while the Bear zord ambled around, scratching at the back of the ancient zord.

The frog zord went head to head with the black ancient zord, bouncing back and forth before shooting out its long, whip-like tongue. It wrapped around the arm of the ancient zord and shot an electric current through the ancient zord. Then the black ancient zord pulled hard and the frog ninja zord was dragged along the ground. The lion, tiger, and wolf zords bounced back and forth as they took on the blue, white, and yellow ancient zords, alternatively striking each one with hard blows.

"Alright guys," Rito said, backing away. "Let's show them what these ancient zords can really do!" The ancient zords suddenly became bathed in a light pink hue, drawing power from Kimberly's Power Coin as it was still in Rita's and Zedd's possession. Before the rangers could get out of the way, the ancient zords, now pumped up, shot blasts of energy into the rangers' zords with strong punches forward. The force of the blows knocked the rangers out of the cockpits of their zords and screaming to the ground.

Avalon hit hard, demorphing as soon as she rolled to a stop. Lifting her head from the ground, she took stock of her friends, who demorphed as well, all groaning as they tried to get up. She flipped her hair out of her face, watching as Rito and the ancient zords teleported back to the Lunar Palace. She started to say something to the rangers, and then stopped when something caught her eye.

"Guys?" She called.

Her voice immediately grabbed their attention and she pointed at the figure in the distance. The rangers all looked over towards the figure, staring hard. The figure had appeared in the spot Rito and the zords had been standing only moments before, walking closer to the rangers, as if taking stock of them. It took a few more steps forward and the rangers all let out differing gasps of shock.

The pink ninja ranger that stood in front of them placed its hands on it hips, mockingly tilting its head to the side as it looked over the rangers.

"W-What?" Kimberly gasped.

The ranger turned on her heel and teleported out of sight.

* * *


	33. Pink With Power

**Chapter 33**

_Pink with Power (3)_

* * *

How was there a second pink ranger?

That was what went through the minds of the rangers ever since their fight against Rito. Granted it had only been a few days, but no matter how much they tried to keep their minds off of it, as the days afterwards were relatively quiet, it was a thought that consistently plagued them.

Billy spent more time in his laboratory in those few days than he had before. What he was looking for exactly, he wasn't sure. As a matter of fact, there was nothing left behind after the fight that would give them a clue as to whether or not there truly had been a pink ranger there that day. However, there was enough to know that their worst fears had been realized. Rita and Zedd had come up with a new ranger to fight against them, and if their assumptions were correct, it was via the use of Kimberly's Power Coin.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Aisha asked as she leaned back in her seat at the lunch table. "I mean, I know it's something that we're really going to have to worry about, but it's really starting to become depressing."

"You don't understand," Tommy reminded her. He leaned forward in his seat and lowered his voice, pushing his tray aside. "There being another evil ranger is worse than you could possibly imagine." He swallowed thickly. "I've fallen under that sort of spell before and it was tough. If Rita and Zedd managed to make another one, this time via the use of the powers we already have, then that could spell even worse disaster than we could ever imagine."

Billy, who sat on the other side of the table, wiped his mouth with a napkin before dropping his hands into his lap. "What doesn't make sense, though, is _how_ they were able to copy it," he remarked. The rangers looked over at him and he continued, speaking at the same time as he worked out the problem in their head. "Think of it like this. Tommy had been an evil ranger at one point before—"

"—and that was because of the Dragonzord Power Coin that had already been in their possession," Rocky agreed.

"—Exactly. So we are already aware that the power source of the evil green ranger came from that Power Coin and the magic Rita bestowed upon it." The blue ninja ranger started to speak rapidly as he continued through his deduction. "If things had gone the way they were supposed to go, Tommy, or someone, would've been a ranger with us from the very beginning. But then that brings us to the question of the Ankylosaurus power. That was a Power Coin with the capabilities to be used by anyone who gets their hands on it. When it comes to those powers, though they're now gone, it was something Rita and Zedd could've gotten their hands on, but didn't otherwise try."

"Which is really strange," Adam agreed. He scratched the side of his neck. "Why _wouldn't_ they want to go after that sort of power and create a new evil ranger with little effort? Tommy was an evil ranger at one point; they wanted Jason on their side another time. They've also gone after Kimberly and Avalon. Why not go after Bailey?"

"Better question," Rocky said with a grin. "Why haven't they gone after you, me or Aisha?"

"Maybe because they don't care about you. You should take that as a compliment, Addo. They don't like you enough to go after you," Avalon teased, resulting in a balled up napkin thrown at her from the black ranger. On her other side, Jason chuckled to himself, lifting his carton of milk to his mouth and taking a long swig.

"Wait, that's not fair!" Aisha cried, pointing at the orange ninja ranger, who regarded her with surprise. "You have nicknames for everyone and you give the next nickname to Adam first? I want my special nickname."

"I'm not a pez dispenser, Aisha; my nicknames don't just drop out of the sky."

Billy's eyes shifted back and forth between the rangers as they all laughed lightly at the exchange. He smiled a little as well. Despite the seriousness of the conversation they were having, he was happy they were at least able to find something that would keep things lighthearted around them. After a small bout of bickering from the rangers, he cleared his throat, resting his fingertips together. His friends slowly subsided their laughter and turned their attention back to their smart friend.

"Sorry," Aisha quickly apologized to him. She tucked her braids behind her ears. "What were you saying, Billy?"

The blue ninja ranger let out a light sigh, scratching his forehead. His smile was fleeting as he wanted nothing more than to relax. But there was still the matter of knowing what was going to happen that bothered him a lot. It was the scientist in him; the guy that always had to know what it was that was working and how it worked and the same for things that _didn't_ work. Now he absolutely had to know what it was that had Rita and Zedd to be one step ahead of them once more.

"Anyway," he continued. "They didn't go after Bailey, though they had the chance. Nor did they go after Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. Instead, they sent out the horoscope monsters, which were, probably, the toughest monsters we have ever faced. Then they were defeated by and we went up against Ivan Ooze. Who we then went and defeated, despite having lost our powers beforehand due to Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina. And while we've managed to defeat monsters and lose to monsters, there was no indication there was anything else we truly had to worry about. We hadn't been targeted specifically for a long time. And now once they realize that we have new powers that could help them, they go after us, manage to take Kim's coin, and…that's where we're stuck."

Now Billy twisted his mouth to the side and let out a sigh of frustration. And that's where they were stuck. Zordon even went and said that there hadn't been a way for Rocky's powers to be copied and given to Jason as well. So what was it that caused Rita and Zedd for they could do it? If Zordon and Alpha had been able to create the powers of the white ranger, as well as there being the ability for the original powers to have been copied…there was still something he was missing and that irritated him more than knowing that there was another ranger out there they now had to deal with.

"What do you propose we do to go forward?" Jason asked. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "There's going to be someone else we have to fight against, while trying to defeat them in general." He bobbed his head back and forth. "We'd have to go through different battle plans to as we know the new pink ranger is going to come back in a future battle."

Then, finally, there was another long silence that filled the rangers despite the talking and raucous laughter that filled the cafeteria around them. The blue ninja ranger's eyes shifted over the table around him. He frowned when he looked over at Tommy, noticing that he had been quiet throughout the whole conversation. For most of the day, actually. As Kim' smother refused to allow her daughter to go to school, hoping to get her to believe that she really as sick—as the pink ranger still stubbornly didn't admit—he had become more sullen than usual. He had hoped the white ranger would've been able to turn himself around and fill in that leader role once more. However, he could sense _something_ the white ninja ranger wasn't saying was even more worrying.

Jason, who was seated next to him, seemed to have noticed and he reached out, placing his hand on the leader's shoulder and gently shook it. Tommy gave him a small smile and Jason took a deep breath and clapped his hands together, before leaning forward.

"So I talked to Kim earlier today and she said that she still wants to have that movie night," he said. He then smiled a little. "Because, believe it or not, she thinks she still deserves to have some sort of celebration for her working with Coach Schmidt."

Billy let out a light sigh, grateful for the change of subject.

"But isn't that amazing?" Aisha asked, now smiling brightly. "She's working with one of the leading coaches in gymnastics. Ever! And he wants to turn her into an Olympian." She tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it again. Shaking her head, the yellow ninja ranger smiled once more. "It's amazing," she repeated.

"I know," Rocky took the conversation with exuberance. "I can't wait to be able to tell everyone I know that I know an Olympian gymnast." He rubbed his hands together. "She's going to do so great. I really want to see her in action." He then broke off once more, eyes widening with a mixture of surprise and shame. He quickly clasped his hands over his mouth and looked over at Tommy, who gave a light roll of his eyes.

"It's okay," he announced to the table. "I'm not going to fall to piece if you don't want to talk about it."

"Actually, I was more like we didn't want to depress ourselves," Avalon said, passing an empty yogurt cup back and forth between her hands. "But it's nice to know that you're so into your own feelings, yeah?" Billy turned to her with a raised eyebrow, a silent chastising, and she slouched in her seat. "Me and my fucking big mouth. Sorry, Bro. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great considering," Tommy reassured her. "Don't worry, Sis. But I think that having a movie night is a good idea. Kim has practice with Coach Schmidt later today and then we can do it after that. We can have it at her place as I'm sure she's dying to do something rather than have her mother wait on her hand and foot all day."

"What makes you say that?" Adam asked.

The white ninja ranger reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Navigating through texts, he found one and turned the phone around to show it to the table. "Because she told me, 'I have to get out of here. I'm tired of my Mom waiting on me hand and foot all day'."

"That sounds like her," Rocky said. "Her dream is to be treated like a princess and as soon as it doesn't work out, she wants it all to end." The table erupted into laughter once more as the bell signaling the end of lunch grabbed their attention. "Well, I have to get to drama class. You coming?" He asked the yellow ranger, reaching out and grabbing onto her backpack, holding it out to her.

The yellow ninja ranger smiled gratefully as she took her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. "Yeah, I just have to stop at my locker and get my script first." She turned back to her friends. "We're doing a bunch of little scenes in groups, and Rocky and I are doing one from Bye Bye Birdie."

"That sounds fun," Billy remarked. He slowly started to smile as he looked back and forth between the two of them. "Who's gonna sing?"

Rocky gave the blue ninja ranger the stink-eye before the yellow ninja ranger grabbed onto Rocky's arm and dragged him away from the table as the rangers laughed. They gathered their things together; Tommy, Adam, Billy, and Avalon going to their art class, got ready to go off to his auto shop class. As Billy slung his backpack over his shoulder, Jason glanced around to be sure the other rangers were gone before grabbing his attention.

"Hey man, I need to talk to you for a minute," he murmured.

Billy's eyebrows furrowed together. "Sure thing, Jason, what's up?"

Jason took a deep breath before crossing his arms, a serious expression sliding onto his face. "You know how for the past couple of years every time there's something evil coming around there's more likely it to be someone we know?" Billy nodded, licking his lips lightly. "The first evil ranger was Tommy, and as you guys told me, Scorpina ended up being Adam's girlfriend Sabrina…" Billy winced for a moment. It didn't appear that the black ninja ranger had gotten over the loss of the girl he truly liked, who ended up being evil. Despite the two being separated, the trauma was still too much and she had moved away, causing the black ranger to curl in on himself a bit. "I think there's someone that you haven't thought of that may be the evil pink ranger."

Billy studied Jason for a second as he thought about it. Who else around them would be the evil pink ranger when there was no one they knew that would have the means of being a skilled fighter? _That's not the only requirements, Billy,_ he quickly reminded himself. _Don't forget that you weren't great at fighting either when you first started._ He pressed his lips together and continued to think as hard as he could. _Who else is around that would come close to being able to help Rita and Zedd defeat us?_ Then his eyes shifted for a moment and he sucked in a quiet breath, turning his attention back to the former leader of the rangers, who waited expectantly.

"Kat?" He questioned.

"Yeah," Jason said. "Kat. I mean…" he lifted his hand and the two fell in step with each other as they slowly headed off to their classes, walking along behind their classmates. "It does seem like its' be really far-fetched because from what I've seen of her, she's a really nice girl. But… it's kind of odd that she's not in school today and then she was at the hospital when Kim was sick and when I was talking to her there, there were some things that made me think something was a bit weird."

"And she was there the day at the beach," Billy said, the memory flashing into his head, eyebrows furrowing even further. "And disappeared after you had gone to help some people get away. And that would explain how the Coin was able to get taken up to Rita and Zedd without the rest of us knowing!" He slapped a closed fist against his palm. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before! It's the only explanation." He let out a light groan. "A time that I wish I _didn't_ have to go to class."

"Think of it this way," Jason pointed out. "Doing some artwork is bound to take your mind off things. If not that, then it might help you figure some more things out." He looked up, making a face as the late bell rang. "Now I wish I didn't have to go to class. Mr. North said that he would give me a detention if I'm late again. I see you later." He turned and started to run down the hallway.

Billy gave a brief wave back and turned, increasing his pace as he hurried down the hallway to his class. As he rounded the corner, he spotted Kat strolling down the hallway to get to her own class. She walked at a light, breezy gait. Noticing Billy out of the corner of her eye, she turned and waved before slipping into her home Ec. Class.

 _Strange,_ Billy thought as he raced to his own art class. _When Tommy was the evil ranger we all knew it. But Kat seems too nice…_

* * *

"So looking at the chemical compounds that you have together, it should be enough to get the power source started," Billy said to Captain Mitchell as he looked over the material that was spread out in front of them. Goggles perched on his forehead; he rubbed a hand over his chin. "Though I can't seem to fathom why it isn't doing what it is you want it to do." He rounded the table and picked up a notebook that held all of the notes they had taken since getting started directly after school that day. "And you said that you want this to be similar but an improvement to the power that you—"

"—that I accidentally injected my own daughter with? Yes," Captain Mitchell said with a hint of irritation in his voice. Billy's eyebrows ticked upwards for a moment and the older man let out a light sigh. "Sorry, I just _need_ this power to work. Not only is it something that has been influenced by your work as well as form the past rangers, it's something that's should be able to benefit society in the long run."

"You mean, like a sort of police force?"

"Something like that."

Resting his hands on the edge of the table, Billy lightly licked his lips. It was an interesting idea. What better way to have whatever city was the guinea pigs for the experiment to have a police force that used powers reminiscent of power rangers to help serve and protect? Then an image of Lt. Stone, Bulk, and Skull as power rangers entered his head and he shuddered. _Then again, that may not be the best idea in the world. It'd be much like Bailey's Ankylosaurus powers falling into the wrong hands. Anyone with that amount of power in general getting an actual source of power could be devastating to the city._ "Am I correct in assuming that you can't tell me due to classified information?"

"This project being conducted is classified in general," Captain Mitchell explained. "Not only that, but there are multiple pieces of information from you all in Angel Grove that we have that is classified as well."

"So why'd you ask me for help if I'm not allowed to know what it is I'm helping with?"

Captain Mitchell paused for a long moment, studying Billy with a critical eye. He then took a deep breath and turned back the power source that sat in front of them. And as he spoke again, Billy knew everything he was being told had to be kept the utmost secret or else there would be massive ramifications neither he nor the rest of the rangers would be equipped to handle. "My branch of the government is currently working out of Australia due to the resources that we have been able to utilize there. However, we're still very much working on the premise of making sure that our home country is safe from every threat that comes our way. And it was due to that research that we've found the instance of the past battles between those in space, or the former rangers that have come before you.

"Of which our research had uncovered even more since the space trip that opened Rita's canister as well as the appearance you all as rangers. What you're doing is exactly what we need to be able to have each and every city the capability of doing. Especially as there are many attacks, not only a global scale, that are possible."

Running a hand over his hair, Billy cleared his throat. "You mean like Diabolico?" Captain Mitchell started before staring at the blue ninja ranger. "He killed my mother," he explained. "He along with the help of Rita. Which I'm sure you were aware of through all of the information that you've managed to receive where your operations are based." He curled his hands around the edge of the table, squeezing hard, watching the blood move away from his fingertips. "You want to prevent something like that from happening again?"

"And to determine how to seal Diabolico once and more all. He's been sealed away; he should've never gotten out."

"And yet, he did." A new voice wafted in through the garage and Billy and Captain Mitchell turned to see David walking over to the two of them, his hands in the pockets of his slacks, a stance Billy seemed to have taken from his father. "Not that I'm blaming you for it, Captain, just that it's a reality we have to face." He looked over at his son and nodded, causing the blue ranger to smile a little and nod back. "So from what my understanding is, you're having a difficult time figuring out why the power source that you've created, that replicates the source that these guys use,"—he placed his hand on Billy's shoulder—"isn't firing up correctly?"

"Exactly," Captain Mitchell agreed "I've had a team of some of my best scientists working on this ever since we started, and I haven't been able to figure it out other than what I've managed to do when I was working on it at home that one time."

"And you're saying it activated when Av was around?" Billy asked. Captain Mitchell nodded. Feeling his father's grasp tighten on his shoulder, the blue ninja ranger looked up at David and, noticing the expression on his face, concluded they had come to the same answer.

"It might not activate until the person that is destined for that power, come in close contact with it," David explained. At Captain Mitchell's confusion, the elder Cranston gave his son the floor to explain even further.

"He's not saying that Ava is supposed to get the powers that you are currently working on," Billy explained. "Not that it's not possible either as we've all just come up with an upgrade to our powers. But at the time she was exposed to it, it was before she had received her powers to be a ranger in the first place. Powers she, like the rest of us, were destined to have. However, each of us already has our powers. I think this is in working order—though it's not without its faults—but it won't come into complete fruition until those that are destined to get these powers, come into contact with it." He lowered the goggles that had been perched upon his forehead. "So your idea that you'd be able to create a new power source for future rangers is definitely something you've accomplished, I just don't think you'll know for sure until you've come into contact with the right people."

Captain Mitchell nodded, eyebrows rising as he thought about what had just been explained to him. It did make sense though there were still some things he wasn't sure about. How had Diabolico managed to get away if he was still sealed away?

 _And of course, you can't forget the pink ranger._ Billy's mouth twisted to the side as he heard the sound of the alarm on his phone going off. Reflexively, he glanced at his communicator before turning to his other wrist and looking at his watch. He was going to be late for movie night.

"I have to go," he said, ridding himself of his protective gear. "I'm meeting up with my friends. But if there's anything that you need help with—"

"—we'll be sure to call you or Bailey first," David reassured him. The blue ranger paused at the door to the garage and studied his father. It was the most alive he had seen him in a long time. "Have a god time, son."

"Okay. Thanks. See you later."

Billy closed the garage door behind him and found Avalon and Bailey sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall behind them, eating ice cream. They smiled as he appeared in front of them and the orange ninja ranger leaned to the side and picked up an ice cream carton that sat by her side. "Here." Avalon thrust the carton towards him. The male teen paused, looking at it for a second and the orange ninja ranger smirked at him, tilting her head to the side. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Your favorite. I figured you'd been spending enough time out here without having taken a break and I thought I'd check up on you."

Billy smiled as he took the offered ice cream. "Oh really?" He pulled off the top and took the spoon Bailey handed him as well.

"Yeah, but I was more afraid that Dad had killed you," she added nonchalantly. "He has a license to carry, you know?"

Bailey nodded in agreement from where she sat on the floor. "It's true," she added. "And according to Dana, he doesn't take very well to the idea of his daughters dating." She paused. "It's why I asked Fred to meet me at Kim's and not here." She gave Billy a knowing smile, causing the blue ranger to roll his eyes, taking a bite of his ice cream. The purple ninja ranger got to her feet. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I just have to get my wallet." Billy paused as Avalon reached into her back pocket and pulled out his leather wallet, tossing it to him.

"You need a better lock on your door, Smurf," she said with a teasing smile as the three left the house and started down the street towards Kimberly's house. It wasn't far away from Billy's, easily in walking distance.

"Or a better handle on my stuff," Billy said. He tilted his head to the side, studying the orange ranger, pinpointing something about her outfit that he hadn't noticed before. "Is that my jacket?" He asked, nodding to the letterman jacket she was wearing.

Unashamed, she nodded. "I got cold," she explained. "But you can have it back if you want."

"That's okay. " He smiled over at her, blushing a little. "It looks better on you, than me."

"Thanks, I thought so, too."

"And you're not modest."

"And yet you like me anyway, yeah?" Transferring her ice cream to her free hand, Avalon looped her arm through his, leaning into his side. "Admit it; I make your life one hundred times better. I give you ice cream, I'm a good listener, I make you laugh…and I'm all around awesome." Bailey gave a loud snort of laughter and Avalon kicked out with her foot, kicking her in the butt. Bailey whirled around and stuck her tongue out at her sister, blowing a raspberry. "You're very smug for someone who's about to lose their life, yeah?"

Bailey blew another raspberry as she quickened her pace away from her elder sister.

Billy laughed as he watched the two of them before reaching out and taking Avalon's hand, lacing his finger in between hers. "And you take my mind off things," he admitted before putting his arm around her shoulders.

Kat growled as she landed on her butt on the floor. Goldar stood above her, a disgusted look on her face. She was covered in sweat and he had barely moved to fend her off. Wasn't the point of having these powers supposed to make it so that it was easier for her to fight? She _felt_ stronger, connected to the power somehow, and yet she was still getting beaten so easily.

Even Zedd was annoyed as he turned to Rita, violently gesturing towards her with his Z-Scepter. "She has the power of the pink ranger, the same powers that Kimberly has! How come she's not learning as quickly? Even your precious Tommy had more power in his pinky finger."

Rita scowled as she watched Kat place her hands on her hips and turn away from her mistress. "I know," she agreed. "When I found someone to take on the power of the pink ranger, to have someone that will finally defeat those brats I thought I hit the jackpot! She's already friends with those power brats; it wouldn't be hard to destroy them!"

"She's not working!"

"I can see that, Zeddy!" Rita huffed and stormed over to Kat, painfully grabbing her ponytail. Kat let out a cry of pain, much like a yowl of a cat that had just had water dumped over its back. "What makes you think I'm going to stand for your insolence?" She demanded the girl. "I could have you killed as quickly as you could blink. You're supposed to be my next evil ranger! Even those doofuses over there can do better than this!" She gestured towards Goldar and Rito then pulled her hair tighter. Rita let out a low sigh, tilting her head to the side and scanned Kat's neck. "I'd hate to lose my temper and watch all of that pretty blood spill over this beautiful neck."

"I wouldn't," Zedd grumbled. "Not the way this is going."

"Hush!" Rita shoved Kat to the ground and pointed her wand at the girl. "I'm giving you one last chance. Don't blow it!" She turned, rubbing her fingertips over her forehead. "Oh, I'm getting such a headache," she murmured.

Kat frowned and turned back to Goldar, who lifted his sword one more and charged at her. Ducking out of the way, Kat lifted her arm and struck the golden monster in the chest with her elbow then followed it up with a high-kick, and a clumsy judo-sweep. It still managed to knock Goldar off balance. With a smug smile, she turned on her heel, putting distance between so that they could get started again.

She still couldn't feel the spirit animal of the crane yet, but that would come in time.


	34. Pink Slip

**Chapter 34**

_Pink Slip (4)_

* * *

Aisha frowned as she watched Kimberly race back and forth across the park grass while Coach Schmidt cheered her on, barking orders every now and then. The yellow ninja ranger wrapped her arms around her knees and chewed her lower lip as the pink ninja ranger slowed down to take a sip of water. Even from where she was sitting, the African-American teen could hear his suggestions.

"You're not taking the chance to breathe," Coach Schmidt said in his thick German accent. Kimberly stood in front of him and listened carefully as he talked to her. "You need to remember that when you're in the air, spinning around the bars, doing your flips and tricks, you need to breathe. If you don't, then you'll throw yourself off and that'll cost you the gold."

"Sorry," Kimberly agreed. She lifted her water bottle to her mouth and took a quick sip before drying off her face with a towel. "I'll get it right next time." She smiled a weak smile and waited for the next piece of information that was to come her way.

And as Aisha watched the exchange, marveling at how Kimberly continued to flip across the grass, do high jumps, and bends and stretches that would turn her into a pretzel if she had any talent with gymnastics. However, she still couldn't help but notice that despite the height she would manage to get on her jumps and spins and tricks, it seemed to wear the pink ninja ranger out more and more as each day passed. Even now as she wore a light sweatshirt over her workout clothes, something she had worn many times before, she looked the picture of health. The picture would change as soon as someone would come closer in Kim's vicinity.

Her bright smile was forever present on her face, but it wouldn't reach her eyes, making it sparkle with the light it used to. Her skin was gaunt and almost always had a pale sheen to it, causing her to put her makeup on a bit darker. She was almost always chilly, wearing a sweatshirt or a light jacket over her clothes despite how warm it was. Not to mention how tiny she looked in nearly all of the clothes she wore. Her sweatshirts made her appear much smaller than she already was and the times that she allowed herself to be seen, she would move quickly to get covered once more.

 _And she says she doesn't have a problem,_ Aisha thought. Tilting her head to the side, she ran her hand through her braids, allowing each one to slide through her fingers. But maybe that was the point. Maybe there weren't many problems anymore now that Kim had part of the powers that Aisha and the rest of the rangers had given her. That had been enough to sever her connection with the Pink Crane Power Coin and so that Kim could still morph and be a part of them.

 _If only there was some way we could get into the Lunar Palace and take it back._ Aisha stretched her legs out and rested her hands on the grass behind her. She followed Kimberly with her eyes as she now performed a series of backhand springs across the grass like it was nothing. Finally, the pink ranger stopped and said something to Coach Schmidt, which he said something that caused Kimberly to smile and practically skip back to Aisha, plopping on the ground next to her.

"I swear, I'm going to need a _lot_ of retail therapy after this," Kimberly said as she stretched out on the ground, turning her face towards the sun. "Coach Schmidt really knows what he's doing. There's so much I didn't know I needed to know to make sure I was getting my full potential."

"You're doing a great job, Kim," Aisha added. She smiled over at her friend as she yawned and curled up into a ball. She looked like a cat, curled up like that. As if knowing it was being thought about, Aisha felt a light brush against her hand and turned to the white cat that sat at her side. She smiled and ran her fingers over its back. "I think P.C. agrees with you. I'm so glad no one's come to claim her."

"It must be really fun," Kimberly agreed, eyes still closed. "I've always wanted to have a pet, but Mom wouldn't let me. She says she's allergic, but I think she just doesn't want to have to help me take care of it." She giggled and stretched once more. Aisha's smile faded lightly when she spotted how thin her arms and legs appeared.

 _How could we have gone so far without noticing what was going on?_ Aisha continued to run her hands over P.C.'s back as the white cat rubbed itself along Aisha's hands before crawling over her leg and resting in her laps. Aisha's bear zord, now in its miniature size, made a growling sound as it watched the cat curl up in the yellow ninja ranger's lap. "You look tired, Kim," she said lightly. "Coach Schmidt must be working you really hard."

"Definitely, but that's the price to pay when trying to get to the Pan Globals," Kimberly agreed. She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms out. "But I'm so excited. I can already tell that I'm improving. _And_ it's helping with the cheerleading squad. I've been able to work in some new cheers and the girls really like them. We're even showing some of them off at the upcoming football game." She suddenly sat up and turned to Aisha with a serious look on her face. "It's so weird. There's been so much going on with our powers and everything, but it seems like the school year has barely gotten started."

"I know what you mean," Aisha agreed. "But all of the homework and college applications are piling up." She tilted her head back, gently shaking her hair back and forth. "Why can't we just say where we want to go and automatically get accepted?" She laughed a little, turning her attention to her bear zord as it raised a paw and brought it down towards P.C.'s face. P.C. hissed back, scratching back with its paw. "I don't know what's the matter with you, kitty. You don't seem to like anyone I'm around."

"Maybe it's jealous," Kimberly giggled.

"Maybe." Aisha looked at her watch once more. "I have to go. There's some stuff I need to go, some people I need to meet up with. I'll catch you later, okay?" She reached out and made a show of ruffling Kimberly's hair, before getting to her feet.

"See ya," Kimberly agreed.

Aisha waved again and lifted her cat into her arms then reached out her hand and allowed the bear zord to climb up onto her shoulder. "We have to get you to the vet, don't we?" She asked P.C., gently rubbing underneath the cat's chin. "To see if there's anything that can be done before we see if I can adopt you. Does that sound fun?" She smiled and walked over to her car, carefully placing P.C. and the bear zord into the passenger seat before climbing into the driver's seat. Turning on the car, she pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the vet, meeting up with Dr. Nelson as she arrived for her shift.

"Hello Aisha," Dr. Nelson said with a bright smile as she waited for the teen to reach her at the door. "How are you, today?" She then reached out and ran her hand over P.C.'s back. "And how's this little one doing?"

"I'm great, Dr. Nelson," Aisha said with a bright smile. "And I think P.C. is doing well, too. But I came by to get her checked up and to see if there was anyone around that wants to adopt her…" she trailed off, giving a sheepish smile. "Is it bad that I really hope no one does so that I can adopt her myself?"

Dr. Nelson laughed, opening the door to the vet and waving Aisha inside. "I've had that happen many times before. From myself and the rest of my colleagues. We have a tendency to become attached to some of the animals we work with and I've even had problems letting go sometimes. It's very normal." She placed her arm around Aisha's shoulders and led her towards an examining room. "Let's see what's going on with this cat and we'll know where to go from there."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Aisha grinned and followed Dr. Nelson to the examining room and reached out her arms, allowing the cat to leap onto the table resting in the middle of the room. She watched as Dr. Nelson went through the routine exam, checking P.C.'s skin, her ears, eyes, and mouth.

"So what's going on with you, Aisha? This must be a pretty exciting year for you." Dr. Nelson smiled over at Aisha as the yellow ninja ranger watched her deftly go through the motions of looking over the cat. "Senior year."

Aisha smiled as she nodded. It was exciting, but there was so much that had to be done. She was surprised if she found time to relax or go to sleep. If there weren't constant monster attacks, even if there was one every other day, things would be a bit easier. Not to mention just worrying about her friends in general. Who knew which fight was going to be their last? Who knew how long it would take for Rita and Zedd to take over the world. They had the ancient zords on their side, the zords that had managed to blast the Ninja Megazord apart in only a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, they had to stand strong and be sure they wouldn't fall apart.

"I know," Aisha agreed. "There's so much to do."

"Aren't you supposed to hear back from that foreign exchange program soon?"

"I hope."

Though she wasn't exactly sure.

Aisha had applied for the foreign exchange student program back when she was still at Stone Canyon. A student from another country would go to her school while she would then go to the other school. Moving to Angel Grove, she had been worried whether or not she was going to continue to be eligible for the program and would have to withdraw her name. Thankfully, they allowed her to continue to hold her position in the program and at the start of the summer told her she had her name entered in the drawing for that round. She would hear back from it soon, if she was accepted, where she would be going, and who would be going to Angel Grove.

It was exciting but scary at the same time.

The rangers had already lost Jason, Zack, and Trini due to their own problems and as the moved, then there was Kim's uncertain future with the team. What was going to happen if she left the team too? Would she get a replacement? And if so, who?

"You don't sound very happy about it," Dr. Nelson commented. She turned away from the cat and regarded the yellow ninja ranger with concern. "I thought you were excited to be part of the program. It's a great opportunity and you'd have so many experiences that you won't be able to get anywhere else." She then paused and gave her a knowing smile. "Or are you apprehensive about leaving your boyfriend behind."

"I don't have a boyfriend," Aisha replied. "But I am worried about losing my friends. My parents and I just moved from Stone Canyon not too long ago. Rocky and Adam, too. And we've made some great friends while we've been here. It's just…really hard to know that I'll be leaving them all so soon." She brushed a strand of braids out of her face. "And there are a lot of other things I have to worry about too." _Being a ranger._ "The paperwork, college, my future. All of that stuff."

"You'll figure it out, Aisha, I know you will. I just hope that you think long and hard about what you're going to do before you make your decision. It's not a good idea to do it based off emotions and what you _think_ is right for you. You need to know it for sure."

"Yeah…"

The yellow ninja ranger looked up as there was a sudden sharp intake of breath from Dr. Nelson. Despite the air conditioning that already blasted through the room, Aisha could feel a coldness waft through the room. She glanced over at Dr. Nelson and saw her face go slack then tighten with anger as she clenched her jaw. Confused, Aisha looked down at P.C. then back up at Dr. Nelson as she drew the cat away from Aisha.

"Is something wrong?"

"Aisha, what have you been doing to this cat?"

The question caught the yellow ninja ranger off guard enough so that she took a step back away from the veterinarian. What had she done to the cat? Nothing! She would never hurt an animal, she loved them all. Especially not the one that was going to be brought into her house to take care of on her own. "I, nothing! I've been taking good care of her! She has everything she needs at home."

"So you've been watching her carefully," Dr. Nelson continued. "You haven't done anything to her?"

"No!"

"Then would you please explain to me how she has this very questioning cut on her leg?" Dr. Nelson turned P.C. around to face Aisha and showed off the red and angry looking cut that sat on the forefront of P.C.'s leg. She had never seen that before. Where could it have come from? "Aisha, this is a very concerning cut. It looks like there has been bodily harm done to this cat."

"I swear, I didn't do anything to her," Aisha insisted. She already felt tears coming to her eyes. "I would never do something like this. I have no idea how she got hurt like that." She took a step closer to P.C. and tried to rub her behind the ears, but the cat backed away from her with a glare. "I'm sorry. I don't know how this happened."

"I'm think you should go, Aisha," Dr. Nelson said, her voice still holding that cool tone that made the yellow ninja ranger's spine chill. "This needs to be investigated a little. I'll be sure that P.C. gets all of the car and attention she needs while we be sure that you aren't doing anything wrong." She tilted he head to the side and looked straight at the yellow ninja ranger. "I do believe you, Aisha, but this is procedure. We need to be sure that everything is okay. I'll keep P.C. here for a few days while we get things going."

Lowering her gaze, Aisha nodded as she chewed her lower lip. "Okay," she said quietly. "I'll just go now." She took a step back, looking at P.C. as she turned. She paused, gasping lightly when she sat the cat follow her movement as she moved to leave the room. It was if the cat was watching her, sort of pleased as she went. But that wasn't possible. She had never seen a cat that looked as grumpy or smug as P.C. did then.

Brushing tears from her cheeks, Aisha fled to her car and drove to her house as quickly as she could. When she arrived, she was surprised to find Rocky sitting not he front steps of her house. Quickly glancing along the driveway and the street in front of her house—both empty, showing her parents weren't home—she slid out of her car and slammed the door shut behind her. Rocky lifted his head and gave her a weak smile, causing Aisha to walk faster. This was definitely not the Rocky she was used to.

She was used to the guy that had a smile on his face despite what was going on around him. If he got a bad grade, he would shrug, smile and say he'd do better next time, despite knowing his mother was going to be very upset by it. If someone else was upset, he would do his best to make sure they smiled and laughed, not stopping until he achieved that. Even when he, Adam, and Aisha had started their first few days as being part of the rangers, he always had something to smile about. It was infectious and the only way to know something was wrong with him was if he didn't want anything to eat or if he wasn't smiling.

This time, he was trying to stay upbeat, that was even worse.

"What's going on?" The two asked each other at the same time. They then paused as Rocky lifted himself from the porch and stood across from her. "What do you mean?" They asked at the same time then paused once more. "You look like you're about to cry." Then identical expressions of annoyance slid over their faces. "Would you stop that?"

The red ninja ranger laughed, running his hand over his face. Then his face dropped and he looked at Aisha seriously. His eyes searched hers and Aisha lowered her head, her gaze towards her feet. She watched as the Bear ninja zord was accompanied by Rocky's miniature ape zord. The red ape zord beat it's fist against its chest as the Bear zord walked around it before reaching up a paw and knocking it over. Aisha smiled a little before her face fell again.

"Seriously, 'Sha, what's going on?"

"What's going on with you?"

"I asked you first!"

"I asked you last!"

A light smile tugged at Aisha's lips as she moved around Rocky and sat down on the porch. He sat down next to her, his arm brushing against hers, sending goose bumps up and down her arms. Tilting her head to the side, Aisha gently scratched behind her ear. She had no idea what was going on, actually. She had never seen anything on P.C. before she had taken her to the park to hang out with Kimberly. She hadn't seen anything on her when she had taken the cat to the vet. It was as if the bad cut had appeared there by magic. And the way the cat was looking at her…

 _It's like it was waiting for me to get in trouble,_ she thought. _Like she was waiting for it to happen. She wanted it to happen. _Aisha sat up slowly. But that was silly wasn't it? It wasn't like cats were aware of what was going on around them. She had heard what it was that dog lovers said: cats are evil. While they're better trained than dogs at times, she never knew a cat to be inherently evil. But when they lived in a time where monsters attacked their city for days on end, was that really so strange?

"'Sha?" Rocky waved his hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm going to ask you something and it might sound weird, but it's the only thing that I can come up with right now," Aisha said slowly. She shifted to face the red ninja ranger, eyes boring into his. "Do you think it's possible that the cat Kim and I found in my backyard, the one I've been taking care of this whole time…do you think it might be Rita in disguise or something?"

She expected him to have made some sort of joke; a large smile to come onto his face and for him to start giggling like a school girl. Instead, he thought for a moment before his eyebrow rose. "Actually, I think that may be what's happening," he said. "How else would you explain them knowing we were going to be at the lake? I mean, they watch us like crazy, yes. But none of the Tengas or Goldar could've moved fast enough to get the coin when we were out in the water." He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers, pointing at her. "But Kat was."

Now Aisha snorted. Her idea for Rita being in disguise made more sense. "Kat? Really?" She asked.

"She's the only other person there when this happened. And even Jason mentioned he didn't see her around the entire time. Like she disappeared when he was trying to evacuate everyone. She could've used that time to take her coin. How do we know she wasn't going to try and take the rest of ours, too?"

Pressing her lips together, Aisha rubbed her arm. It made…some sense. She could admit that. Despite how nice Kat had been and continued to be to all of them whenever they were around, there were parts of her that were a bit off. Why was she at the hospital with Kim? Not that she couldn't be that worried, Aisha had no right to judge on that aspect. But how had she known? She didn't remember any of them telling her what was going on. It was just her closest friends Ms. Hart had called about her condition. And yet, there Kat was when Aisha arrived in a full blown panic, calmly standing on one side of the hallway as the rangers all filed in.

"So you're saying Kat is…my cat?" Aisha's face completely screwed up in confusion. "In disguise?" She ran her fingers over her forehead. "You're giving me a headache, boy. Wouldn't we know if she was P.C. otherwise? Shouldn't she slip up or wouldn't we have noticed something?" She shook her head before punching herself in the thigh. "God! If that's the truth…if that's what she's doing…" the tears came back to her eyes one more. "Dr. Nelson, the vet I shadow, she accused me of abusing my cat. And...And the look she gave me…I would never do that! It's jeopardizing my job! She's ruining my life, Rocky! That's how Rita and Zedd are trying to get to us now!"

She didn't dare mention the foreign exchange program. That wasn't the point of the conversation. It held no merit at point in time. Still, she was shortly brought out of her own anguish when Rocky snorted and leaned forward, resting an arm on his knee, using his free hand to rub his neck.

"Do you think he's doing the same thing to me? I mean, I don't know for sure, but maybe Zedd has taken on the form of my Dad and is making my life hell." The red ninja ranger let out a mixture of a sigh and a laugh. "I mean, there was a part of me that always wanted my Dad to come back, the young part of me. The past version. But now…I don't want him around. I can't stand it. Knowing what he's done…remembering how he had hid his drugs in my room to keep from being busted…I can't ever get over that."

Aisha nodded quietly, reaching out and rubbing Rocky's knee. She knew everything about the time Rocky's father had left his family. Or was forced to leave would be the better way to say it, as he had been arrested. But Rocky always tried to see the bright side of the situation, never thinking he would ever see his father again before moving far enough away to not be affected by it. She could see in the way he held himself, with his shoulders tensed and jaw clenched it did truly still bother him and his brave face was starting to break.

"What happened?" She asked.

Rocky rolled his eyes, continuing to rub his neck. "Mom brought him around again. She wants him to be part of our lives again. I don't get it. He kept his drug dealing…drug use a secret from her too but she continues o keep him around. No matter how much pain he caused her. She cried nearly every night since he was taken away and she welcomes him back with open arms?" He brought his hand down and punched it into the flat of his palm then muttered something in Spanish under his breath.

Aisha continued to stroke his knee as Rocky scrubbed his hands over his hair then over his face. Finally, his shoulders slumped in defeat and he leaned his head on her shoulders. She smiled a little. It was funny, their relationship…their friendship didn't always fall under the conventional means. If asked, they would say she was the toughest of the two while Rocky was the more sensitive. Even when they were young she found herself defending Rocky and Adam more than they tried to (or had to) protect her. She continued to rub his knee before moving her hand to his, hesitating a moment before taking it in hers. Rocky made a low humming sound under his breath then squeezed her hand, holding into it tightly, causing the dark skinned girl's cheeks to warm.

Bringing her other hand up, she rubbed his arm, frowning when she felt something strange against her fingertips. Leaning back, she looked down at the inside of his arm and noticed a line streaked across his arm. "What's that?"

Lifting his hand, as if seeing it for the first time, Rocky shrugged. "It's nothing. I was messing around with my brothers and sisters and I got scratched. It's no big deal." He removed his hand from hers, wiping his palms on the sides of his jeans. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off the sound of their morphers going off.

Aisha lifted her communicator to her mouth as the Bear and Ape zords scurried over to their pilots. "What's up, Zordon?"

"Goldar has unleashed a hoard of Tengas out at the park," Alpha's voice came through. "Not only that, but there's a pink ranger with them as well. You need to stop them before it's too late."

"We're on our way," Rocky said. He and Aisha looked at each other before teleporting to the park, where their friends were already in battle with the Tengas that had been unleashed. Jason, despite not being a ranger anymore, was battling Goldar as hard as he could, working harder and moving faster so that he didn't get caught on the wrong end of his sword.

Aisha raced forward a few steps, did a series of flips, and launched herself over the head of a Tenga. When she landed on the ground, she jumped up into a high split and kicked two Tengas in the face. Then, landing on the ground once more, she channeled her bear spirit and stood her ground as a Tenga tried to knock her over. The Tenga bounced off her while another charged and tried to ram her from the other side, receiving the same response. The yellow ninja ranger laughed as she spun on her heel and kicked another Tenga directly in the face.

"Ha! Ain't no stopping the bear!" She declared.

"Someone sounds like they're in a good mood," Adam called over to her from where he was fighting the Tengas, ducking out of harm's way in a low roll across the ground.

"Compared to what's been going on today, I really needed time to kick some Tenga booty," Aisha replied. The last of her words were barely out of her mouth when a Tenga's wing stuck her in the front, causing her to fly back and crash to the ground just as Avalon fell and landed next to her. "Ow." Aisha rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe I celebrated a bit too soon."

"Or these guys are stronger than we thought," Avalon added. "Though honestly, mate, I don't think that's the case." Her eyes moved across the clearing where Tommy and Kimberly were fighting against the pink ranger and the incoming Tengas.

Aisha nodded. "When you're right, you're right."

"Give up now, rangers! You're not going to survive this!" Goldar declared, waving his sword high in the air. Reaching out, he grabbed onto Jason's throat and flung the former ranger aside, causing him to crash hard to the ground. "Even a lummox like Rito could do better than this. Why don't we make it a little more fun!" He laughed loudly as more Tengas appeared on the scene, squawking and flapping their wings at a flurry, black feathers flying.

"We gotta morph or we have no way to fend this guys off," Bailey called.

"You're right, Bay," Tommy called back. "Let's go it! It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

Morphed, Aisha held out her hands. "Bear Brigade!" Aisha's large fan appeared in her hands. She swung it hard and the accompanying wind knocked Tengas off of their feet and back onto the ground. Turning around, she swung again and continued to swing as a Tenga struggled to fly against the wind she was creating.

"Wolf Howler!" Billy appeared at her side with his weapon and shot out the blue cord from it. It wrapped around a Tenga's wing and he pulled hard, causing it to swing off balance and get buffeted by the wind, sending it back to the ground. "Yes!"

"Nice job, Billy," Aisha congratulated him with a high-five.

"Falcon Flyer!" Tommy leapt overhead and finished off the Tengas with his wind wheels, throwing them at the Tengas. As they coasted on the tails of the wind that Aisha created, corralling the rest of the Tengas in a circle along with Goldar.

"Get em', guys!" Jason called encouragingly.

"Tiger Token!" Avalon's shield appeared in her hands.

"Lion Lancer!" Bailey's chain sickle appeared in her hands.

"Frog Force!" Adam's mace appeared in his hands.

"Ape Arsenal!" Rocky's blaster appeared in his hands.

"Let's do it, guys!" Aisha gave the signal and the rangers all used their weapons to attack at once. Goldar immediately teleported back to the Lunar Palace, but the Tengas weren't so lucky. They were struck by the attacks so hard that there was an immediately explosion, causing a mess of feathers and gore to fly through the air. Aisha let out a cry of disgust as blood splashed across the front of her suit. "Gross!"

"Don't think you're out of the woods yet!"

The rangers turned around at the sound of the evil pink ranger's voice and watched as she and Kimberly shuffled back and forth across the grass, attacking each other and ducking out of the way. Kimberly was putting up a good fight, but every few seconds she would bring her hand up to her forehead and stumble, keeping herself open so that she would be attacked once more. Soon she was on her knees, bravely continuing to fight despite her obvious disadvantage. "Tommy!" She called. "You guys, help!"

"Hang on, Kim!" Tommy called back.

"I don't think so!" The evil pink ranger cried.

With the white ninja ranger leading the charge, the rangers all rushed towards the evil pink ranger. One by one the rangers went up against the evil pink ranger, trying to take her down. Despite numbers and experience being on the rangers' side, the pink ranger seemed to know each of their fighting styles. Well enough so that she didn't have to do more than use the rangers' moves against them. Aisha was the last in line, hoping to use the effects of her animal spirit to help her, but the evil pink ranger somehow managed to cause her to lose her balance—with a well placed judo sweep—before she receiving a strong punch to the face, knocking her to the ground.

Lying on the ground, groaning in pain, Aisha was the closest one to watch the evil pink ranger calmly walk back over to Kimberly and strike her in the face hard enough to knock her out. Gasping lightly, the yellow ninja ranger watched as Kimberly de-morphed, passed out as her head lolled to the side.

"Hang on, Kim," Tommy barely managed to breathe as he hoped to catch his breath. "Don't give up, yet."

The evil pink ranger kneeled down over Kimberly and tilted its head to the side. "Poor, little, Kimberly…you don't deserve to have the Power Coin." Then the evil pink ranger reached out and scooped Kimberly up into her arms, the brunette's head lolling backwards.

"Kim!" Aisha shouted. She finally managed to get to her feet and started to charge towards the evil pink ranger. Calmly, the duplicate ranger lifted a foot and kicked Aisha in the chest hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

"Don't worry, she'll be back once Lord Zedd is done with her." The evil pink ranger teleported, leaving the other rangers behind.


	35. Pink Eye

**Chapter 35**

_Pink Eye (5)_

* * *

"Zordon, what are we going to do? We can't just sit back and wait for Rita and Zedd to give their demands to get Kim back." Jason crossed his arm over his chest, pacing back and forth across the floor of the Command Center. "And even if that's the route we're going to go, what are we going to give them in return?"

"Yeah, we can't just, like, give them the deed to Angel Grove," Rocky added. "Or give them permission to blow up the Earth!" Jason waved an arm over towards the red ranger, as he had proven his point, continuing to hold his gaze up towards the mentor and friend of the rangers.

"I understand your concerns," Zordon said as calmly as he could manage. "But this is a delicate situation that we have to take care of." He looked down at the rangers as they stood around the Command Center, letting out light groans.

"At this point in time we can't even pinpoint where Rita and Zedd are holding her," Alpha added from where he, Billy, Bailey, and Fred were standing at control panels, pressing over buttons with increasing concern. "There are multiple dimensions she could be held captive; it'll take a long time to look through them all."

"So what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" Bailey demanded, pushing herself back away from the controls. "Wait for them to dangle her on a rope in front of our faces?" She shook her head, letting out a long sigh. "Things were much easier when we were just dealing with the monster of the week, yeah?"

"Up until the horoscope monsters," Fred pointed out. "But I get your point." He removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. "But Alpha is right. We can't pinpoint Kim and at this point I have no idea where she's being held. If there are numerous dimensions, it's going to take a long time for us to even get an idea of where they've taken her or _why_."

"Isn't it obvious?" Aisha asked. She tilted her head to the side, regarding each of the rangers with a pointed look. "The only way they'll give her back is if we give them our powers or give up in general. If not that, if we concede defeat to the Ancient Zords they have. The only way we're going to get out of this—"

"—is if we do a trade," Tommy interrupted. Jason's eyebrows rose as he turned towards the white ninja ranger. This was the guy that he entrusted his team to, knowing that he would be a good if not better leader than he had been himself. And with one look at his best friend's face, the former ranger knew exactly what the leader was about to say. "We'll meet up with Rita and Zedd…and I'll turn myself in, in return for Kim."

"No way," Adam immediately denied. "We're not doing that." He shook his head vehemently. "If we give you up to them, how are we going to get you back? What's going to happen then?"

"I'm not going to leave her there!" Tommy snapped back, his eyes flashing. For a moment, he ran his hands over his face. "I don't think there's any other thing we can do right now, other than potentially give them a trade. If anything, Rita may still be mad that you broke me out of her spell as the green ranger, maybe she'll see that I'm the most valuable for them and trade me for Kim."

"And what are you going to do when you get there?" The orange ranger asked, her voice dripping with a light hint of condescension. "Scurry around looking for her Power Coin? Hate to break it to ya, mate, but I'm sure they'd have it _and_ Kim under lock and key."

"Not unless we can get the coin back," Jason said, snapping his fingers. He turned back to the rangers. He thought for a moment, the hesitation evident with the other rangers. It was a risky plan, he knew that, but it was even riskier to have to allow Tommy to go up to the Lunar Palace himself. "By now we all know that Kat's working with them and is more than likely the identity behind the evil pink ranger, right?" He waited as the rangers all nodded. After watching Kim get kidnapped, their immediate return to the Command Center had been a time for everything to be revealed. There wasn't much surprise to know that Rita and Zedd were up to their old tricks in wanting to create an evil ranger. How long they would go with this one, they weren't sure. "And we know that Kim's life force has been severed from her crane power coin, but can still fight back because of the power you gave her, right?"

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. He regarded Jason with a curious expression on his face. He had no idea where Jason was going with his plan, but old habits die hard and he already felt himself hanging on to every word. "Though I can't be sure how long our power is going to hold up within her."

"I'm also assuming that Kat's powers are via Kim's power coin. What if we were to lure Kat out and take the power coin back from her? Judging by her…lack of fighting skills, I don't think it would be too hard to subdue her. And if she's under Rita's spell, then we can figure out how to break her out of it at the same time."

"Don't you think that's a bit risky?" Rocky pointed out. He scratched the back of his neck as he chewed his lower lip. "Not to say that it won't work, but what if Rita and Zedd anticipate it and threaten Kim's life up on the Lunar Palace while watching us down here."

"It's a risk that's going to have to be taken," Bailey said firmly. She gently traced her fingers around the knobs and buttons that rested atop the control panel sitting beside her. "They have the ancient zords and we don't know what's going to have to happen to get rid of them. But we also have to remember that every second that we sit around taking, not doing anything to help her, it's its every second that she could be tortured." Brushing her hair back out of her face, she nodded over towards Jason. "I think we should do what he's suggesting. Cut our losses and see if we can get something out of Kat."

Jason smiled and nodded, glad to have Bailey immediately on his side. She really had grown into her own as a ranger and he was glad to see she was stepping up a lot more than usual. As he looked over the other rangers, he could see them slowly starting to come to terms with what he was suggesting. Though he understood the hesitation as well. Once before he and the rangers had given up their Power Coins to save their parents. Thankfully, Billy had withheld the Dragonzord coin and that had eventually helped them in getting their parents back and save Angel Grove. He didn't think they would fall for it again this time.

"So what's the plan?" Aisha asked.

"Tommy and I'll go confront Kat, see what is that she knows, or see if there's any way we can figure out how to revert the spell or manipulation that's been placed upon her. I'm guessing she doesn't know what's going on or that the hold isn't great, or else she wouldn't have tried to befriend you guys. As we've seen with Tommy, if someone is evil, they're just evil. I think her will may be stronger than Rita and Zedd thought."

"Geez, Jase, you _really_ want to go after Kat."

Gently shaking his head, Jason bit at his lower lip before reaching up and nervously pulling on his earring. It was just that he couldn't stand the idea of anyone else falling underneath the ruling of those on the Lunar Palace and he did nothing to help them. He caused Tommy to lose his powers before, he didn't want there to be an even worse consequence this time around. "I just want to get Kim back where she belongs. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"I'll go with you, too," Avalon declared.

"Avie—"

"You can try all you want to talk me out of it, Jay, but it's not going to work," she interrupted. "If something is going to happen, Tommy's going to need backup and I'm sure Kat's going to want some sort of explanation as to what's going on if Rita managed to improve her magic this time around."

"Then Billy, Bailey, and Fred can focus on pinpointing where Kim is; if she's in an alternate dimension of something, we need to be able to find her," Tommy said. "Before anything happens to her. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, you guys will be prepared in case they decide to send down Goldar, Rito, the ancient zords, or Tengas."

"Sounds like a plan," Tommy agreed. He turned to Jason and Avalon and nodded. "Let's start looking for Kat, the sooner we find her, the quicker we can figure out where Kim is being held."

"Stay in contact as much as you can," Billy suggested. "The more we talk, the more efficient we'll be when it comes to extracting Kim and getting everything back to normal."

"You got it," Adam agreed.

"We'll do our best to figure out where Kim is," Fred added. "We're not going to give up until we reach her."

"Rangers," Zordon said, grabbing their attention. "You loyalty and dedication to finding your fallen friend is admirable. It is something that I knew you to be capable of as you continue on your journey to save the Earth and all that you love. I'm proud to call you rangers and to serve at your side."

Pursing his lips, Rocky's face screwed up in confusion. "How can you serve at our side if you—"The black and yellow ninja rangers immediately reached out and slapped their hands over the mouths of the red ninja ranger before he could say anything that would offend their mentor. The rest of his sentence came out at a muffle, causing the rangers to let out light laughter, breaking the tension around the Command Center.

Alpha waved his hands. "Ay yi yi, I think I may have started to sense Kim's power source," he said. "We're close to finding her."

"Alpha, try to pinpoint the coordinates," Billy declared, moving towards Alpha's side and looking over the panels and screens. "If anything, they may be trying to throw us off by making us think that she's in another dimension when she's still being held in the Lunar Palace. If we can find a way to hack in a sort of back door to pinpoint her, we can get her that much faster."

"You do that, we'll go talk to Kat," Jason agreed.

"Do not let your guard down; we don't know what it is that Katherine is capable of, whether or not she has the powers of the pink crane power coin. Let your spirit animals be your guide and may the power protect you."

Jason reached out and gently placed his hand on Tommy's shoulder as he and Avalon teleported themselves out of the Command Center.

* * *

Kimberly groaned lightly, turning her head to the side. Even before she woke up, she could feel the seeping cold of the concrete beneath her, sinking into her clothes. She then became very aware how quiet it was. The last thing she remembered was fighting the evil pink ranger in the park, then nothing. Complete darkness.

Even as she turned her head to the side, gently opening her eyes, there was nothing but darkness swirling around her. A thin coat of some fog hovered above the floor, nearly hiding her form view. Her head lolling back the other way, Kimberly brought up her hair to rub her eyes then stretched her arms. Wincing, she pushed herself up into a sitting position before looking around the room she had been placed in.

"Ow," Kimberly murmured, brining her hand up and rubbed the back of her head. She then moved her hand around to her front and lightly pressed the area by her eye. "Wow, that evil pink ranger, like, totally, knocked me out," she muttered. Bringing her hand back to the floor, she felt her hands move over bumps along the floor, reminding her of cobblestone. It instantly jarred her back to the time that she had been kidnapped by Goldar and the putties to be named a queen for Zedd while Rita had been floating out in her space dumpster. "Okay, Kim, don't panic. Just stay calm and think of a way to get out of here."

Kimberly slowly stood up and looked around. Her dungeon cell was expansive, bigger than she had expected it to be. _Maybe I'm getting the better holding cell,_ she thought, continuing to scan. _At least last time I was treated better._ Tilting her head back, Kim scanned the ceilings and walls. There weren't any windows or openings of some sort, though she could continuously feel a draft slide over her feet, causing her to shiver every few seconds.

"Poor, poor Kimberly," the rolling, gruff voice came from behind her. Turning around, Kimberly gasped in fright as she saw a pair of red eyes glaring at her through the dense fog. Then there was the sound of a light, metallic clanging sound as the eyes moved closer to her. Kimberly gently clenched her hands into fists, taking a step back for each advancement Zedd made towards her. "All dressed up and nowhere to go."

In the dim lighting, Kimberly could see Zedd glowing lightly as he continued to move closer to her. She wasn't sure if it was from anger of happiness but knew she didn't want to be on the other end of it. Reaching out his z-scepter, Zedd hooked it around Kimberly's waist and pulled her towards him. She squirmed, turning her head away as his long, thin, lizard like tongue came from his mouth and moved down the side of her face.

"Ah, I knew you'd taste sweet," he hissed. "Just as a queen should."

"Queen?" Kimberly's mind raced as she tried to think of a way to stall for time. Anything that would give her an idea of how to get out of there. Despite not having her coin, she still had her heart and her ability to fight. "What do you mean? What about Rita? I thought she was your wife." Bringing up her hands, she placed it against Zedd's cool chest and tried to push herself away from him the best she could. "I thought you loved her."

"My dear wife is not afraid to have her own pets," Zedd murmured into Kimberly's ear, causing shivers to disgust to roll down her spine. "As a matter of fact it's only a matter of time until she managed to get that as well. But now that I have my pet, we shouldn't speak about such trivial matters. Now…" she removed his scepter from around her waist and used the top of the Z to push against her stomach, causing her to stumble back a few steps. "Hold still while I be sure to start the process of draining the rest of your powers."

Eyes widening, Kimberly's head swam. No. He couldn't do that. She already had her coin stolen; she was already weaker than the rest of her friends. She couldn't let them down. It was already hard for them to fend off Rito and Goldar even when the rangers were at their best, being one ranger down, completely, was going to hurt them.

Glancing around, the pink ninja ranger took in a deep breath before speaking. "Wait, you don't want to do that!"

Intrigued, Zedd lowered his scepter slightly. He regarded the pink ninja ranger in silence then said, "Why wouldn't I?"

"It'd just be too easy," Kimberly said. She took a deep breath once Zedd continued to watch her. "You point your scepter at me and take away my powers in only a matter of seconds. We know about the evil pink ranger, we know about Kat. I know she has my power coin." Licking her lips, Kimberly gently held out her hand, as if warning him to stay away from her. "If you strip away my powers just like that, there'd be no way for the evil pink ranger to be able to take on my powers."

Now Zedd stood up straight. Bringing up his freehand, he tapped his fingertips against the metal that made up his jaw. That was an interesting thought .Something he hadn't thought of before then. Maybe the pink ranger had a point. Still thinking, he started a slow, menacing circle around the pink ninja ranger, reaching out a hand and allowing a nail to gently scratch her skin as he did so. She shivered, feeling the cold metal against her skin, making her skin crawl.

"You have a point," he admitted, coming to a stop in front of her once more. "However,"—he picked up his scepter. "I don't care." The top of his scepter glowed a bright red as energy collected towards the tip. He brought the scepter back and when he started to shoot it forward, Kimberly dove out of the way. Reaching her hands out, she transitioned from potentially falling on her face, into a somersault, disappearing in the fog. Zedd let out a scream of fury and twisted around to find her, glowing such a bright red that he nearly illuminated the entire room. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Kimberly pressed against the back wall, just out of sight of the Emperor of Darkness, trying to catch her breath. Bringing a hand up to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut. _You have to do this, Kim, if you don't, you won't be able to get out of here. Don't worry about your powers, worry about yourself, about helping the others._ Taking in a deep breath, the pink ninja ranger steeled herself and stood up. "It's morphin' time! Pink Ranger Power!"

Morphing into the pink power ranger, Kimberly held out her hands as she came out from around the corner. "Crane Lasher!" Her weapon appeared in her hand just as Zedd turned his Z-scepter back towards her.

"Let's see you try this on for size!" Zedd growled and shoved his scepter forward and a blast of energy shot out and struck Kimberly in the stomach. She screamed as the bolt of energy crashed into her like a bolt of lightning. The force of the blow knocked her off her feet and into the dungeon wall behind her. "You worthless piece of trash! You're going to die for this!"

As he let up the attack, to charge and get started again, Kimberly fell to the ground, out of breath. Zedd walked over to her and brought his foot up high. Swiftly bringing it down atop her ankle, he twisted his foot back forth, causing Kimberly to continue to write in pain.

 _You can't give up, Kim,_ she thought. _You have to keep fighting!_ Tightening her hand on her Crane Lasher, she brought her hand behind her head and when she flung it forward, she pressed her thumb against the side of the weapon. A pink whip rocketed out of the end and wrapped around Zedd's arm. Pulling her, she managed to knock Zedd off balance and back away from her. When he stepped back, off her ankle, she flung the Crane Lasher once more. This time it struck Zedd in the middle of his chest, knocking him back a few more steps.

Then she did a low judo sweep that knocked Zedd onto the ground before pointing her crane lasher up into the air. She hoped that the other end would wrap around something that would give her leverage. As if her prayers had been answered, she felt the slack in the line removed and she jumped high off the ground, using the crane lasher to swing herself forward. It was like Coach Schmidt had said, if she focused on her breathing, on the moves she knew she could do, then she could do whatever she put her mind to.

Like doing a gymnastic routine on the rings, Kimberly twisted around and shot back towards Zedd, kicking him in the face as he stood up. "How do you like that, Zedd?" She spat, landing on the ground by him. She barely got the words out of her mouth before she was choking, gasping for air as his hand shot out and wrapped around her throat, crushing it.

He slowly brought his face up towards hers. "I'm enjoying it very much, my pet…" he growled.

The edges of Kimberly's vision became dark and with the last of her strength, she twisted her Crane Lasher around and threw it. This time, the cord reached out and wrapped around the Z-Scepter. With the last of her strength, she pulled hard as the cord retracted, yanking the weapon out of Zedd's hand. The force of the pull knocked Zedd off balance, causing Zedd to get pulled with it. His momentum caused him to whirl around and throw Kimberly to the floor.

Coughing, the pink ninja ranger got to her feet and scrambled in the direction that Zedd had come into the dungeon and was excited to see the door had been left open. She let out a silent, excited sheer, glad he had been so cocky to have left the door open and blasted out. She made it a few feet down the hall before she felt the energy drain away from her and watched as she de-morphed.

 _Oh no, not yet,_ she thought, falling to her knee.

"Where are you, Kimmy?"

Hearing Zedd's voice behind her, Kimberly leapt to her feet and started running again. She couldn't let him catch her. She had to keep fighting as long as she could.

For herself and for her friends.

* * *

Jason licked his lips as he, Tommy, and Avalon teleported to the Youth Center. Jason looked around for a moment, making sure no one had noticed the way they had materialized out of nowhere, and nodded to his friends before going into the building. Just as they walked into the juice bar, Ernie caught their attention.

"Hey you guys," he greeted them. "Can I get you something?" He looked at Tommy and gave him a knowing smile. "You've been my best customer for the past couple of weeks; I hope you can keep up the trend."

Tommy laughed lightly as the three went over to him. "Sorry, Ernie, but we have some stuff that we need to get done today," he apologized. "And trust me when I say I'm never going to drink as many smoothies or protein shakes again."

"Speaking of…" Avalon pushed her way between Tommy and Jason. She rested her arms on top of the counter and leaned in towards Ernie. "We're looking for Kat. Have you seen her? Has she been around lately?"

Ernie nodded, inspecting the glass he was cleaning in his hand. Placing the glass on the counter, he pointed behind the rangers, across the room. "She's just over there, getting some dance practice in. As a matter of fact, now that Kim is now being coached by Gunter Schmidt, she's taken over the class. The kids seem to really enjoy her."

Avalon gave a tight-lipped smile. "I'll bet they do," she said, earning an elbow in the side and a disapproving look from Jason as the three turned and headed across the Youth Center towards her. "What? I'm sure you were thinking it, too, Jay."

Jason and Tommy exchanged and glance and lightly rolled their eyes. "We're going off of speculation, Avie. You can't jump to conclusions about Kat until we know for sure." The orange ninja ranger huffed, crossing her arms impatiently. Jason shook his head as he turned to face Kat, who was quietly stretching in the corner of the Youth Center, a boom box sitting at her side. Jason didn't blame Avalon for her quick judgment on the girl. They couldn't allow anything to get by them, not with something this serious. As it was, he wasn't even sure whether or not he believed his assumption that Kat was the one that stole the Power Coin or was the evil pink ranger.

He just wanted to get Kim back safely and Kat out of Rita's clutched with as little ramifications as possible. Ranger or not, he still worked hard to make sure everyone around him was able to live life happily and so that the guilt didn't continue to eat away at him.

"Hey, Kat," he greeted her once they came within earshot. Kat looked up at him and smiled a disarming smile. The same sort of smile she shot towards him when they had been on the beach and he noticed her space out. It was a smile so filled with innocence that he started to second-guess himself. Then he shook his head. _Don't fall for that Jase, that's exactly what Rita wants you to do. She wants you to let your guard down._

"Hi Jason, Tommy, Avalon," She greeted the three in her lighthearted Australian accent. Getting off of the floor, she brushed off the hem of her tutu that draped around her legs. Jason's eyes were drawn to a scratch down the front of her arm. It looked like it had been an old injury that mostly healed. "I didn't think I'd see you here today. You guys are so busy, lately. I haven't seen you around."

"Yeah, well, we've had a lot we've been going through," Tommy replied.

Kat's face softened and her baby blues moved back and forth over the three rangers that sat in front of her. "With Kim, right? Oh, I hope she's okay. It must be really scary for her right now. But, it's exciting at the same time, working with someone as esteemed as Coach Schmidt."

Jason's face screwed up as he watched Kat. "How'd you know that?"

She looked at him. "Know what?"

"How'd you know she's working with Coach Schmidt?" Tommy asked, staring hard at her. "We've never mentioned it to you. As a matter of fact, Kim and Coach Schmidt are trying to keep it as much of as secret as possible, so she doesn't get nervous about it."

Letting out a light laugh, Kat smoothed her hands over her slicked back hair. "It's not like it's a secret, Tommy. Ernie has been bragging about it to anyone that comes through the door of the Youth Center. He's really excited that she's living out her dream." She pressed her hands against her chest. "I'm so excited that she has this opportunity. But to be so sick…" she turned her head away.

Jason took in a deep breath and exchanged a glance with Tommy and Avalon. They appeared as stumped as they did. Still, there was something deep in his gut that was telling him that Kat was the one they were after. There had to be something to prove them right.

"It's a shame, really," Kat continued. "Passing out all the time."

"She's never passed out in front of you," Avalon snapped. "It hasn't been mentioned other than when she went to the hospital and even then, we don't know how you knew about it. None of us told you about it." She took a step towards Kat, her eyes narrowing. "I swear, if you've done something to her—"Tommy reached out and grabbed onto Avalon by the arm and picked her up off of the floor, moving her away from Kat.

"You were there at the beach when those monsters came around," Jason insisted, looking right into Kat's eyes. "You were there when the monsters attacked at the party the rangers went to. You were there at the park; you were there at the hospital. You were there nearly every time something has happened to Kim or when there was a monster attack." He tried to stay as calm as possible, but he was shaking with rage, already feeling his entire body flush as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "I don't know how you did it—"

With a light roll of her eyes, the blues flashing a quick red once they made their complete revolution. "I'm sure you've figured it out by now," she said in a low, cruel drawl. "You and the rest of your power brats. But guess what? There's nothing you can do to stop me!" She smirked, lightly lifting her chin as there was a sudden flurry of feather and loud squawking sounds. "Go, my Tengas!" She declared.

The Tengas all screeched and cawed as loudly as they could, chasing around the patrons that were in the Youth Center. Kat took a step back and in a flash of pink light a replica of the ninja gi took shape upon her body. Three Tengas appeared in front of her and jumped high, kicking Jason, Tommy, and Avalon in the chest and knocked them to the ground.

Landing hard on his back, Jason looked up at Kat as she lifted her hand, pulling down the mask that covered her mouth.

"Are you ready to play some cat and mouse?"


	36. Pink Panther

**Chapter 36**

_Pink Panther (6)_

* * *

"Alpha, I'm getting a strange reading," Billy said, motioning for the animatronic robot to come over to his area. Bailey, Fred, and Alpha crowded around his control panel and watched as he made sense of the maps in front of him. "There's a massive energy spike that seems to be coming from numerous directions at once. Or else is changing directions at a constant pace."

Bailey looked over the maps the blue ninja ranger had pulled up for them. "Do you think it's Kim?" She asked. "It doesn't appear that the energy readings are coming from another dimension, but the Lunar Palace."

"If that's the case, then why weren't we able to pick up on her readings before?" Fred questioned. He leaned against the panel, staring down at the map for a few seconds before reaching over and pressing a few buttons on the panel in front of him. The image of the map increased, coming into focus to take the shape of a 3D topographical map of the moon. "It could be her, but how do we know it's not a trap of some sort."

"We don't," Billy pointed out.

"Ay yi yi! This may be a risk we have to take," Alpha pointed out. "Even if it's not Kimberly, you may find a way to get into their hangar and destroy their ancient zords before they're brought down to Earth." He brought a hand up to his head. "The Ancient Zords are a force to be reckoned with; you may not be able to handle them when they're fully functional, especially now that they have the pink power coin to power them."

"So we get Kim and the pink power coin back and the ancient zords aren't anything Rita and Zedd can use against us," The purple ninja ranger said firmly, clenching her hand into a fist. There was a sudden blaring sound as the klaxon went off and a picture blinked onto the Viewing Globe. "Spoke too soon."

Billy gave her a small smile before turning to the viewing globe to see what was going on in Angel Grove. He swallowed hard, placing his hands on his hips when first the picture came on screen. Goldar and Rito stood in downtown Angel Grove with a wave of Tengas flying around, destroying everything in sight. Then the picture changed to that of the Youth Center where Kat stood over a fallen Tommy, Jason, and Avalon with Tengas flocking around them.

"Looks like they're doing their best to make sure we can't get to them," Fred remarked under his breath. He looked over at the rangers by his side. "You two better go, or else we're not going to get to Kim in time."

"What about Goldar and Rito?" Bailey asked, turning to Zordon. "They're strong and something tells me they're not going to down without a bloody fight."

"We'll have to have Rocky, Adam, and Aisha hold them off until we can get back on Earth," Billy said. He spoke to Alpha and Fred as he and Bailey moved away from the control panel to give themselves enough space to teleport. "Alpha, can you pinpoint the coordinates on that energy reading? Once we have them, Bailey and I will teleport there and see if we can find Kim. If we run into Rita and Zedd at the same time, then that'll be serendipitous. Just so we can see if they have the Power Coin."

"Yes, Billy, we'll get on that as soon as we can," Zordon said. "I hope you proceed with caution, as venturing out to the Lunar Palace has proven to be very dangerous in the past. We have nearly lost Tommy and Jason to the forces of evil before; we can't afford to lose you two as well."

"You got it, Zordon," Bailey said, giving him a thumbs up. "We'll be carefully and we'll get Kim back, yeah? Just you wait." Zordon gave the rangers a rare smile before instruction Alpha and Fred to get the coordinates as close to the power source as possible. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, carefully tightening with the scrunchie wrapped around her wrist. "Are you ready?" She asked Billy.

"Affirmative," Billy replied. "We have to get going now lest we lose tract of the source." Billy turned to Alpha, waiting for the signal that they were ready to teleport. He nodded once Alpha and Fred turned back to them with a thumbs up. He then exchanged a nod with Bailey. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" He and Bailey did the arms movements that tapped into the power of their ninjetti, bringing forth their gis upon their bodies.

"We won't come back unless we have Kim with us," Bailey declared.

"Wait a second." Fred turned and hurried across the floor of the Command Center and pressed his hand against the wall where a flat panel slid open. He went inside and looked amongst the half-finished weapons and tools before picking up one that resembled a radar gun. He brought it back out and handed it over to Bailey. "It's an energy reader. It'll pick up on Kim's energy output so you can track her down if you don't find her right away."

"Thanks Fred." She smiled at her boyfriend as she took the energy reader, holding onto it tightly.

She and Billy brought their hands down to their belts and teleported out of the Command Center. They streaked out over the desert and across the sky before landing somewhere in the Lunar Palace. As far as either of them was concerned, there had been little to no detection of their arrival or else there would have been a swarm of Tengas that immediately flocked to them. Bringing down his mask while simultaneously pulling back his hood, Billy looked around the dungeon-like area they had landed in. He looked around for a few moments, trying to get an idea of where they were.

"I guess it's good that the moon doesn't have the same sort of center that Earth does," Bailey remarked, lowering her hood and mask as well. "Or else we'd probably be fried by now." Billy smiled a little, continuing to look around the area. She was right, judging by the cool, dryness of the air around them they were underground at some depth. If the Lunar Palace was a big as he thought it to be, then there was bound to be a way out of the dungeon and up to the main area of the Lunar palace, where she was to be held.

He didn't want to entertain the idea of what he expected to be the reasoning behind the seemingly constant target on her, but he wasn't stupid either. As Rita had such a strange fixation on Tommy for so long via being the Green ranger or having had turned against her as the white ranger, it had to have the same sort of reasoning as to why Zedd was always going after Kimberly. For his own pleasure. If they didn't get to her soon, he didn't have an idea of what was going to happen to her if Zedd managed to be successful this time around.

"Come on, let's see if there's a way out of here," Billy said quietly. The purple ninja ranger nodded and followed the blue ninja ranger as he led the way to the far side of the room. Waving a hand in front of his face to get rid of the smoke that continued to swirl around them, he found the opening to the room and slid out. Once out in the hallway, they found themselves in a hallway that split off into numerous directions. "Looks like we really are in the Lunar Palace."

"I think _under_ it is the operative word, mate," Bailey pointed out. She held up the energy reader and turned it on. For a few seconds there was nothing but static, but then there was a light pinging sound and a bright pink dot appeared at the top of the screen. "I think that's Kim. But f this reading has anything to say about it, it appears that her energy is running out, we have to get to her soon."

"Come on!"

Billy glanced at the screen of the reader and followed it down the winding hallways. As they went, he found that they passed many empty cages and cells along with paths that took them to random areas of the Lunar Palace. As they continued to move by cells, Billy was struck by how terrible the conditions of living there had to be, not to mention those that were stuck there in captivity. Ones that had been ripped away from their homes and stuck within the confines of the palace with no end in sight, stuck underneath Rita's and Zedd's rule.

"It seems that Kim is running around a lot," Bailey said as they came back around to the opening of the dungeon they had been in before. "Maybe she's being chased by someone or something." Pressing a button on the side of the reader, the map on the face of the screen changed so that there was a clearer view of the area around them. Frowning, the purple ninja ranger turned the reader back and forth then looked up at the dirty ceiling above them. "She's up there! Let's go!"

There was a sudden sound of a scream of which Billy and Bailey both recognized being that of Kimberly's. But it didn't sound to be a scream of terror or pain, but a scream of frustration and rage. Shortly afterwards there was a low zapping sound and an implosion, sending dust raining down from the ceiling.

Billy turned over to Bailey and tightly grabbed onto her arm. "Hold on tight," he instructed. She nodded and he bent low, allowing her to climb up onto his back and wrap her arms around his neck. Once he was sure that the power reader was out of the way he closed his eyes, taking in the power of his animal spirit, tapping into its speed. Billy then used his newfound enhanced speed and raced through the hallways of the Lunar Palace until they came upon the balcony that Rita and Zedd used to spy on the rangers on Earth.

He came to a sudden stop, nearly throwing Bailey off his back and onto the floor. He gently removed her from his back and crossed his arms as he gazed up over the Earth. He hadn't realized it was so close to them, no matter how long they thought things were peaceful, Rita and Zedd had been watching them all along.

Bailey gasped lightly, walking towards the telescope and peering down through it. She jumped when she saw how closely she could see the Youth Center, and then leapt backwards, falling onto the throne that was directly behind her. Billy walked around the balcony, turning this way and that as he took in the holding area Rita and Zedd continued to create their plans against the rangers. He had only ever been in the dungeon once before, when Goldar had created the copy of the evil blue ranger and had him stuck within a sort of fog that would put him to sleep. Otherwise, he had never been around it before. He could see how intricate their work truly was, with remnants of parts used to create a machine or a weapon of some sort scattered on the ground, probably left by Finster. There had to be a laboratory around there somewhere, which meant there were still portions of the Lunar Palace he and Bailey hadn't reached.

The two rangers froze as the sound of metallic footsteps approached them. "Where are you my darling crane?" They heard.

Billy's head jerked back as he heard the sound of Zedd's rumbling. It sounded strange, compared to how they normally heard Zedd. His voice that was typically filled with malice and darkness was instead that of smugness and…something Billy couldn't quite place. But it caused a shiver to roll down his spine. Exchanging a glance with Bailey, he saw that she looked horrified and disgusted all at once. The footsteps continued to approach and Billy raised his hands, falling into a fighting position.

"Billy! Bailey!"

Hearing his name whispered, the blue ninja ranger turned around, looking for the source of the voice. He then potted a white gloved hand waving from around the corner of the room. He glanced back in the direction that Zedd sounded to be coming from and hurried towards it. As soon as he neared the corner, a hand was placed against the front of his gi and he was yanked around and shoved against the wall. "Ow!"

"Shh!" Kimberly pressed her hand against Billy's mouth, shushing him the best she could. Bailey came around the corner after them and the pink ninja ranger grasped her arm, pulling her out of sight as well. She then reached up and pulled off her helmet. "How did you guys get here?" She looked back and forth between the two, her eyes lighting up. "I'm so glad to see you."

"We teleported here after we found traces of your power on our reader," Bailey explained. "We've been looking everywhere for you. What's going on? Why did Kat kidnap you like this?"

Kimberly motioned for the two rangers to be quiet, glancing around the corner once more. "They took me because Zedd wants me to be his queen," she explained, looking like she was about to puke. "But I've found out a few things while I've been running around here, trying to stay away from him." She shuddered, holding her helmet against her hip. "I can't hold him off without my Power Coin for much longer." She smiled before reaching out and giving Billy and Bailey both a hug. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here."

"So are we," Billy replied, returning her hug. "Do you know if your Power Coin is up here?"

"No, Kat has it, that's what's powering her ability to turn into the pink ranger," Kimberly said. She then let out a sigh, punching herself on the thigh. "I should've never let her into our group; I should've known there was something wrong with her when we first met. If that didn't happen, then she would've have stolen my coin and I'd have my powers and there wouldn't be any ancient zords to worry about and we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You can't blame yourself for this, Kim," Billy reminded her. "None of us would've known what could happen if any of us had befriended Kat. We didn't know she was underneath one of Rita's and Zedd's spells; there was no way to know, truthfully. Right now we just have to focus on getting out of here."

"Well, I don't believe that'll be that easy," Zedd growled as he came around the corner, holding up his z-scepter. Before any of them could move, he sent a shockwave of energy over towards the rangers, causing to fly back off of their feet. Billy let out a grunt as he crashed into the back wall of the hallway and fell to the ground. Kimberly and Bailey fell around him. Running a hand through his hair, Billy looked up to see Zedd slowly walking towards them, glowing as bright a red as he had ever seen. "How dare you break into my palace you filthy ranger!" He growled, bringing up his scepter once more.

"How dare you kidnap our friend," Bailey spat back. "She doesn't want to be your queen!" The young girl immediately moved to block the pink ranger from sight, holding her arms out to the side as she did so.

"Tough words coming from such a little pipsqueak!" Zedd drawled. "But there isn't much to be said for a pile of ashes."

"It's morphin' time!" Billy declared. "Blue ranger power!"

"Purple ranger power!"

Billy and Bailey took their power blasters out of the holsters of their suits and shot them towards Zedd. Bolts of purple and blue shot off his metallic armor, only a few making direct hits. It wasn't enough to hurt Zedd, but enough to have slow down his progress. Then, to their surprise, Zedd seemed to have changed his mind. He stopped advancing towards the rangers and lowered his Z-Scepter, starting menacingly at the rangers. Billy continued to hold up his blaster, but lowered it slightly when he noticed the halt in Zedd's steps.

"You're letting us go?" He asked.

"What's a game of cat and mouse if the cat catches the mouse all the time," Zedd growled, continuing to stare at Kimberly. She shuddered and turned away. "So you can go and join the crusade you and your friends have against my henchmen and my zords…" he turned on his heel and slowly started to walk away. "She's going to be dead before you come close."

"We'll see about that," Bailey declared.

Billy continued to hold up his blaster until he was sure that Zedd was out of the vicinity. He then let out a quiet sigh and lowered his arms, replacing his blaster to his holster. He dared not to look at Kimberly, knowing she had to be on the verge of tears, hearing about her ultimate downfall and knowing there was nothing she could do about it. Rather than dwelling on it, knowing there were more important things that needed to be handled at the moment, Billy brought up his communicator. Kimberly and Bailey followed his lead and the two brought up their communicators as well and the three teleported out of the Lunar Palace.

* * *

"It's a shame, really," Kat said, tilting her head to the side as she looked down at the three friends. "I thought you would put up a better fight. I mean, you're rangers aren't you? Aren't you supposed to be able to fight evil and do good and all of that?" She eyed the Tengas that continued to tear through the Youth Center. "Not get beat by these bird brains."

Tommy rolled back and did a kick-up back to his feet. Jason followed his lead and did the same maneuver to get off the floor, and Avalon rolled onto her stomach before rearing up as well. The three turned back to Kat and fell into fighting stances as the Tengas continued to swarm around them. The three exchanged glances before launching into an attack. He turned on the ball of his foot and did a high, roundhouse kick that connected with the Tenga's beak, knocking it backwards. Avalon rolled across the floor in a somersault, moving out of the way as a Tenga flew overhead, then turned around and gave a strong punch and mighty stomp to the Tenga. Taking upon the power of the tiger, she then twisted the other way and punched a Tenga hard in the stomach, causing it to go flying across the room and crashed into the wall with a hard thud, leaving a Tenga shaped dent as it did so. Jason jumped up high as a Tenga dove towards his legs and flipped over, landing hard on its back. He flipped back to his feet and gave a combination of punches and kicks that knocked the Tenga back away from him.

Kat watched, a slow smile coming to her face as the rangers continued to fend off the Tengas that swarmed around them. She then gave a slow clap, which prompted the Tengas to leave the youth center as quickly as they came. "Now that's what I'm talking about," she declared, then lifted her mask and replaced her hood. "Let's see if you can handle me!"

She leapt into the fray, taking on the three friends as they circled around her, fighting as hard as they could. Despite Kat's obvious lack of fighting style, technique, or training, she still had the viciousness of a cat that fended them off the best she could. The training with Goldar had to have helped, for even when Avalon and Jason had hold of her, she managed to kick Tommy in the chest and stomach enough to keep him back away from her. He grabbed onto her foot, but she twisted out of the way and knocked Jason and Avalon off her before backing away, holding up her hands, her fingernails elongating into claws.

"Unless you'd like to get clawed, I suggest you give up, now!" Kat declared. As she smiled, the rangers could see that her canines had elongated as well. Avalon's eyes lowered towards Kat's arm and spotted a long scratch on her forearm. "It'll be so much fun for me!" Her eyes flashed as she laughed loudly.

"We're not giving up until we get Kim's power coin back," Jason declared. "And we'll keep fighting until we do." He nodded over at Tommy and Avalon and the two nodded before calling out for their ninjetti powers, allowing them to take on their ninja gi and leap back into the fight. Jason stood back to watch as the three power rangers fought each other, spinning around the Youth Center, each person taking the upper hand when they got the chance. However, there was still something that continued to keep Kat on her toes. "It has to be Kim's Power Coin," Jason finally figured it out. "The power of the ninjetti weren't destined to you more than the dino powers were. Rita and Zedd must've found a way to allow her Power Coin to give anyone who has it in their possessions the power."

"Like what happened with the green ranger powers," Tommy agreed, backing as far away from Kat as he could, the orange ninja ranger right by her side. "But something tells me there's isn't a pink candle lying around somewhere that holds the key to getting it away from her."

"Something tells me you're right," Avalon agreed. "I don't think Rita and Zedd would make it that easy." All of a sudden, their communicators went off and the orange ranger quickly brought her wrist up to her mouth. "Yeah, Zordon, what's up? We're trying to take down Kat…but we think the powers of the crane are really going deep within her. She's not a strong fighter, but she's fending us off pretty well."

"I was afraid it would come down to this," Zordon replied, his voice crackling through the communicator. "Goldar and Rito have touched down in the park and they've brought the ancient zords with them."

Kat cackled and teleported out of the Youth Center before Tommy, Jason, or Avalon could grab her. Then Alpha's voice came through the communicator, "Rocky, Adam, an Aisha are holding them off the best they can, but they're going to need everyone's help to defeat them. Your zords are the only things that can hold up to its power. Unless you can stop them, Angel Grove will surely be destroyed."

"What about Kim?" Avalon asked, feeling her anxiety rise at the mention of her best friend's name. "Has anyone found her? Is he okay? Did they manage to get to her in time to—"

"Billy and Bailey got to the Lunar Palace and got to her in time," Fred now came on the line. "She looks a little shaken, but she's okay. They're going down to help Rocky, Adam, and Aisha against Goldar and Rito. I'd go now if I were you. They're really getting their butts handed to them."

"Unfortunately we got that treatment as well," Jason spoke up. "She has a sloppy fighting style; I don't think she's ever really fought before. We should've been able to subdue her pretty quickly, especially with the experience that Tommy and I have in martial arts. I don't know for sure, but I think Kim's Power Coin gave her at least a bit of a boost to her power."

"It's quite possible," Zordon agreed. "Since we have to separate her human life fore from the power that connected with the Power Coin of the ninjetti, it has been granted the opportunity to latch onto someone else that has the ability to use the power."

"But Kat is working for Rita and Zedd, how would she be able to use the power of the ninjetti?" Tommy pointed out.

"I don't think there's anyone any fucking less deserving than Kat," Avalon commented, earning a look of disapproval from both the white ninja ranger and the former ranger. "I'm just saying what you all were thinking."

"Much like what had happened with Tommy, Kat seems to be underneath a sort of spell that Rita and Zedd have managed to place upon her. If you can break her out of the spell she should turn back to her normal self," Alpha said. "As it is, you've said there have been many times that she has acted like a friend to you all. I think I believe that Rita's spell doesn't have a strong hold on her for that reason alone."

"You don't have much time to talk this over," Fred pointed out. "You have to stop Goldar and Rito. Jason, Zordon, Alpha, and I'll see if there's anything we can do to help Kat up here, you need to stop those ancient zords."

"You got it," Tommy replied. "Please teleport Jase to the Command Center and we'll get to the others." He turned and watched as Jason disappeared in a flash of white light then turned back to Avalon. "You ready?"

"Ready!"

"It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

* * *

Adam immediately morphed and summoned his Frog Force as his feet touched the ground. He held his mace high above his head and charged towards Rito, who sent energy blast after energy blast towards cars and nearby buildings, laughing hysterically as they imploded.

"God, how I wish I could do that to someone's head!" He remarked. Hearing Adam's footsteps coming towards him, he turned around and pointed his sword towards the black ranger. "Oh! Looks like someone went and answered my prayers! Well, bring it on black ranger!" He held his sword with both hands and raced towards Adam. Their weapons clashed together, sending sparks around, and Rito knocked the black ranger's mace back before slashing down. He crowed as Adam cried out in pain, feeling the sword rip through his suit and through the skin of his arm. "Oh come on, you have to make it easier than that or else this will be boring!"

"Rito, you bumbling fool, don't taunt them, just kill them!" Goldar declared. He was stuck within a battle between Rocky and Aisha. Though he was doing a good job at holding his own, knocking the red and yellow ninja rangers back with each savage blow, tearing through their suits. They seemed to have gotten stronger, if not more systematic, when it came to fighting the rangers, after having had practiced with Kat for so long. "That's much more entertaining."

"Oh yeah! You're right!" Rito agreed as he and Adam spun around to try and attack each other once more.

"Let's see if you can catch me first!" Adam declared. Closing his eyes, he summoned the power of the frog and stared to rapidly move around the bone monster, getting punches and kicks in every now and then when he wasn't using the mace to add in extra attacks. Every now and then he would hear a distinct cracking sound as he landed a solid blow on Rito, and heard the skeleton monster's screams of rage increase with frequency. The black ninja ranger finally came to a halt a few feet away from Rito. "How do you like that?"

Rito glared and brought his hand up towards his face. "Let's see how you deal with this!" Bringing his hand down, he shot a massive beam of energy form his eyes that rocketed forward and socked Adam in the stomach. He cried out before he landed on the ground, continuing to get rallied by the energy blast. He screamed in pain, trying to get out of the way of the energy beam, but found that he couldn't move away. There was the distinct sound of his visor cracking, and he instinctively closed his eyes to keep from getting the glass in his eyes. "Ha ha! You can dish it but you can't take it can you? Hey Goldilocks, what do you say to you and I turning this rangers into colorful bags of bones and going to get something to eat? I'm getting hungry."

"Just focus on the job at hand!" Goldar snapped back.

Adam opened his eyes to find Rocky and Aisha lying on the ground next to him. The red ninja ranger lost his grip on his ape arsenal and watched it skitter across the ground. Rolling over, he painfully got to his feet. Reaching up, he grasped onto his arm, gloved palm falling over a hole in his suit that held an open wound, blood oozing down his arm.

"Something tells me that these guys mean business this time," he ground out.

"I think you're right" Aisha agreed. Adam looked her over and noted that she appeared just as worse for the wear, though Goldar seemed to have gotten more entertainment out of riddling her with as many wounds as Rocky more than trying to destroy the rangers in general. "They're really not holding back this time. You don't think they're trying to hold out Kim's powers until they're completely taken from her, do you?"

"It's possible," Adam agreed. He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth as pain shot through his body. "We have to fend them off the best we can until the others get here to help us out." He grabbed onto his Frog Force once more. "C'mon!" This time, he went after Goldar and used the chain that connected the mace to its staff to use as a buffer to keep Goldar's sword at bar.

At one point, Adam twirled the mace around his head then bent low to the side, throwing it as hard as he could, cracking Goldar in the leg and bringing him down to his knees. Adam started to bring down his mace once more, but was stopped by Goldar whipping up his sword, length-wise, and pushed it back against his mace. He then pushed hard, causing Adam to stumble back and fall onto the ground. There was a sudden flash of pink light and Kat appeared with Goldar and Rito. She made a sound of disapproval.

"Should've known you lot wouldn't be able to do this on your own," she declared.

"Wolf Howler!"

"Crane Lasher!"

"Lion Lance!"

"Tiger Token!"

"Falcon Flyer!"

Billy, Kimberly, Bailey, Avalon, and Tommy all landed near their friends, weapons at the ready. Kat looked over them for a moment before raising her hand and snapping her fingers. "Let's bring out the big guns!" As the last of her words came out of her mouth, there was a low rumbling sound and the ancient zords, which resembled samurais, slowly stomped up towards them, the ground shaking immensely. "See if you can handle this, rangers!' Kat, Goldar, and Rito leapt into the cockpit of three of the ancient zords and brought them together to form a massive zord that towered over the rangers.

"We have to stop them!" Kimberly cried.

"Kim, you can't," Tommy said quickly. "We don't know how much power it will take out of your or your coin."

The pink ninja ranger shook her head. "I don't care," she insisted. "This wouldn't happen if I had kept a closer eye on my power coin. And none of this is going to end if we don't do something to that coin, even destroy it if we have to. I don't care about potentially not being a ranger anymore; I don't care about my health. Not as much as I care about you guys and Angel Grove."

Tommy looked over at the rangers then looked back at Kimberly, who continued to stare hard at him and he finally relented, nodding as he stood up straight. "You're right. We need to stop them and we'll do everything we can to make sure that happens." He then thrust his hand into the air. "We need ninjazord power, now!"

"Orange Tiger, ninja zord, power up!"

"Purple Lion, ninja zord, power up!"

"Red Ape, ninja zord, power up!"

"Black Frog, ninja zord, power up!"

"Pink Crane, ninja zord, power up!"

"Blue Wolf, ninja zord, power up!"

"Yellow Bear, ninja zord, power up!"

"White Ninja, Falconzord, power up!"

The rangers leapt into the cockpits of their zords and maneuvered them together to create the Ninja Megazord and moved it forward to face the Ancient Zords. The two robots fought each other as hard as they could and the rangers were surprised to find Kat, Goldar, and Rito piloting the ancient zords so efficiently. Tommy frowned as he held onto the control sticks and pressed them hard, causing the Ninja Megazord to slam into the Ancient zords, knocking them flat to the ground.

"You're going to have to do better than that to beat us," he murmured under his breath.

"It looks like we have to start thinking the same way, Tommy," Billy pointed out. "I don't have any ideas as to how to beat these zords. We've only faced them once before and it seems that the only way to break out of them is if we can destroy them all together, but they're too strong for that."

"There's always something we can do, guys, don't give up," Kimberly said, sounding a bit desperate. "Let's try the power sword!" She pressed a few button s on the control panel of her zord and the golden blade appeared in the hands of the zord.

"Good idea, Kim," Rocky agreed. He maneuvered the zord to swing the sword back and forth a few times before the Ninja Megazord charged forward and crashed against the ancient zords, swinging the sword into it. Sparks flew off the face of the ancient zords and the Ninja Megazord continued to thrash them around.

"I thought these zords were supposed to be indestructible," Rito complained as the ancient zord tried to pull itself back to its feel. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, Kitty-Kat, don't you know how to control these things?" Goldar added.

"You can't blame this all on me," Kat hissed. She brought her hands up to her forehead, shaking her head. She didn't understand what was going on either; this wasn't the way things weren't supposed to go. She was supposed to be able to destroy the rangers with little effort and be able to take over the cit the way Rita and Zedd had wanted. Kimberly was supposed to be keeling over, gasping for her last breath with either Kat's hands around her neck or a sword plunged through her chest. "I'm not the only one doing this!"

She looked up and reacted quickly, maneuvering the ancient zords out of the way as the rangers came back at them with another slash of the sword. The ancient zords knocked the power sword out of the Ninja Megazord's hands and it went flying through the air, clattering to the ground. Then the two zords were lock in hand-to-hand combat where they each got solid punches, kicks, and throws in, each zord gaining the upper hand when it got the chance.

Kimberly chewed her lower lip as she wracked her brain to figure out what it was they could do to save the Ninja Megazord and stop the monsters. Something. Anything. All of a sudden she gasped, closing her eyes as she felt a familiar wave of energy wash over her. The same feeling she got when she first received the power of the crane. It was the feeling of coming one with the crane as she managed to improve on her ninja training, before they ultimately found the Great Power that helped them morph back into rangers once more.

Even as her eyes were closed, Kimberly could see a bright light that started to change from a white color to pink as it increased in brightness. Then out of the light, she could see the form of the crane as it slowly drifted closer to her. Reaching out, Kimberly gently raced her fingers across the tip of the crane's beak, smiling gently. The Cane folded its wings to her side and walked closer to Kimberly, resting her head against the pink ninja ranger's chest. Kimberly continued to run her fingers over the crane and it finally stood up straight, extending its wings to its full wingspan and wrapped them around Kimberly. She felt nothing but protection as she reached up and wrapped her arms around the crane in response.

Then the light continued to increase in brightness, to the point that Kimberly became aware that it wasn't coming from inside her head, but was actually happening. Opening her eyes, she saw the pink glow coming from the cockpit of the ancient zords. It continued to increase in brightness then shot out of the cockpit and into Kim, striking her in the chest plate of her suit.

"Hey!" Goldar looked over towards the main control of the ancient zords as it tilted to the side, noticing that Kat was suddenly gone. "What's going on?"

"That dumb pussycat teleported out of here when she got the chance," Rito replied. "I knew I should've gutted and maimed her when I had the chance."

"What's going on?" Kimberly asked as the light amongst the front of her suit continued to glow. Bringing her hands up to her chest plate she found that there was another flash of pink light, and she could see her inner crane cawing loudly at the return of her power coin.

"There's been an energy spike in your readings," Alpha commented.

"It looks like the power of your animal spirits is increasing, that they've completely bonded with you," Fred said. "Your power cells are flying off the charts. If you're going to do something, you should do it now, while the ancient zords are down."

"Let's do it!" Avalon cheered.

"I'm with you," Bailey agreed.

"Ninja Falcon Megazord, power up!" The rangers all called in unison. The white falcon zord shifted to the back of the Ninja Megazord, attaching to its back with ease. "Counter Strike!" The Ninja Flacon Megazord took off into the air, soaring as high into the air as it could go.

"Uh-oh! Looks like we're toast!" Rito said.

"Let's get out of here!" Goldar agreed.

The two scrambled to leave the cockpit of the ancient zords just as the Ninja Falcon Megazord soared through the air, turned sharply, and rapidly shot towards them. As the Ninja Flacon Megazord picked up speed, the arms of the Ninja Megazord started to glow as it took in energy and stored it in the arms.

"Fire!" Aisha declared, pressing her thumbs into the red buttons atop her control sticks. The energy stored up within the arms of the zord shot out and crashed into the ancient zords seconds before the Falcon Ninja Megazord slammed into the face of the ancient zords, immediately blowing them apart.

"Yeah!" The rangers cheered loudly.

…

..

.

"Hey, there she is!" Adam called, pointing over towards Kat as she stood, looking around the destroyed area in confusion. With a wave of his hand, the rangers, Fred, and Jason—who had been teleported down from the Command Center once the rangers had defeated the ancient zords. "Kat. Kat, are you okay?" He reached her first, gently grabbing onto her arms as the rangers crowded around her.

"I think so…" she agreed, bringing a hand up to her forehead. "It's just…I don't know how I got here."

"Do you remember _anything_ about what happened?" Aisha asked anxiously. She exchanged glances with the rangers. It was the best they could hope for once the rangers had seen her teleported out of the cockpit of the zords once Kimberly's power coin had returned to her. "Anything at all?"

"No," Kat replied. "I just remember…leaving the Youth Center and…now I'm here. I just…I don't know." She looked around at the rangers. "Did…did something happen?"

"Nothing that you have to be so concerned about," Jason said quickly. "But…we'll fill you in on it if you want. There's a lot that we need to talk about."

Kath nodded, brushing her hair behind her ears. She then looked over at Kimberly, who stood off to the side of the group, watching Kat carefully. "I know I don't remember it, but I feel like I should be apologizing to you, Kim. There's been so much going on…and whatever I did, I'm so truly sorry."

"It's alright, Kat," Kimberly replied with a light smile. "It wasn't anything you had control over…we've all been under that sort of spell many times before." She looked around at the rangers before turning back to her and smiling gently. "No hard feelings."

"Maybe not with you," Avalon murmured under her breath.

Because there was something else that was more important to talk about that was consistently being pushed under the rug.


	37. Tickled Pink

**Chapter 37**

_Tickled Pink (7)_

* * *

"So, one hundred percent for sure, Kimberly's life force has been separated from the crane power coin?" Fred asked as he looked over the crane that rested in his gloved hand. He ran his thumb over the raised form of the pink ranger's animal spirit before carefully placing it back down in the glass containment box that Alpha had retrieved to place the coin into once it had been returned. "We know that for sure?"

"My sensors indicate that it is indeed still true that the coin and her powers are still separated," Zordon replied. He then paused briefly. "Because of the graveness of her situation, once Rita and Zedd had managed to steal the coin and were using them to pilot the now defunct ancient zords, it was taking away too much of her life energy."

"And you can't put it back?" Fred lifted his goggles off his face, pressing it against his forehead. His fringe stuck straight up in the air. "You can't find a way to reconnect that link? I mean, the other rangers have used a little bit of their power to make sure that she was still able to morph…"

Alpha lifted a hand and placed it on Fred's shoulder. "Unlike the dino powers which, in some ways, were already linked to the rangers, the ninjetti powers had been something that the rangers had acquired in some ways that are different from what we're used to. It has come from the Great Power found on Phaedos and we don't know the origins of it or how it works in its entirety. As far as we're concerned, we don't know how to reverse the link that was broken between Kim and her coin."

"But she can still morph?"

"She can still morph," Zordon agreed. "But as Alpha has said, we don't know if there's a way to put that link back."

Fred nodded in agreement as he took off his gloves and finally removed his goggles, placing it on the metal table beside him. He retrieved his hat that had been sitting on the metal table, and replaced it on his head. Frowning, he continued to stare down at the pink coin that glittered in front of him. As he continued to watch, a light flash of pink screeched over the face of the coin. It made him smile a little, but he was still a bit skeptical if not annoyed with himself. One of the reasons he had agreed to help out in the Command Center was because of it being an easier way to keep the secret of the rangers' identities, though as he had seen so far it was the worst kept secret. Then it was a good way to hang out with his friends and do something to help rather than sit by and wonder what to do.

But he had never felt so helpless. He was smart, all of his science trophies and awards attested to that. Even doing a few tweaks and additions to the rangers' weapons and zords was fun to do and he always managed to find something else to improve on. But now that he didn't have an idea of where to start to keep Kim a power ranger…if she could still do that. Once she had her coin back, he could see the glow return to her face, and could see how happy it made her. But…she was still so tiny, pale, and working hard. It was only a few days since the fight that had returned Kat to normal, had sent Goldar and Rito scurrying away, and destroyed the zords, and she immediately went back to her work with Coach Schmidt.

Fred was a bit young to understand what it was like to go through an eating disorder, let alone through something and keep it quiet to the point that everything was fine—unless he gave too much thought about his mother not being around—when everything clearly was _not_ fine. He wouldn't even say that he was really that close to Kim, but couldn't deny her fighting spirit. He didn't ever want to see that go away.

"You can't think of anything at all?" He asked; a hopeful tone to his voice.

"I'm sorry, Fred, we'll let you know as soon as we figure something gout," Alpha reassured him.

"But there is something that we have to think about before we speak about Kimberly being a ranger again," Zordon pointed out. "As you are aware, Alpha and I have the means to be in tune to what the rangers are doing in their lives. Some ways that are easier than others, especially as we have our sensors that read their energy levels and we can't help but notice—"

"—That Kim isn't as… healthy as she used to be?" Fred broke in. He nervously dusted off his hands. "Yeah, we've all noticed it. We've tried talking to her after she had gone to the hospital, but then everything with Kat happened and we've been a bit distracted. She hasn't listened to anything we've said. I don't know what to do to get her to listen unless she wants to end up in the hospital again…and not come out."

"Poor Kimberly," Alpha said, lowering his head. "You humans…there are so many things about you all that I don't understand. Eating is meant to keep you alive, just like Zordon's and my recharges every now and then. Why would you want to stop doing that?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Fred admitted. "And that's the thing that bothers all of us. Then again, they call it a disease for a reason; it's not something that anyone that hasn't gone through it can understand. And we don't want her to go through it anymore." He looked at his watch. "I have to get going, but thanks for your help."

"Thank _you_ , Fred," Zordon replied just as emphatically. "You've become a great asset to our cause here in the Command Center and with the aid for the rangers. There aren't many things we could've done without your help."

Well, he wasn't quite sure about that. He had to sit back and stay in the Command Center, watching as the rangers went off to fight, worrying over their well-being when the fights were incredibly difficult when he wanted nothing more than to go out there and help them in a more physical sense. Despite seeing how stressful situations could be and how closed off the rangers were to others around them, he still wanted to be a power ranger. Anything that would make sure nothing ever befell the city again. What did he do to help when Ivan and his cronies were destroying the city and all of the parents were hypnotized? Not much. Just figured out what Ivan had planned, gave a rousing speech, and kept the parents of Angel Grove from leaping off of a cliff face at the construction site and leaving many kids orphaned. He didn't actually, really, do anything.

On the flip side, there was a part of him that gave a sigh of relief every time he was in the Command Center and away from the fighting. He didn't worry about the pain or being targeted—though he was sure Rita and Zedd watched him as often as the other rangers—he didn't have to worry about his father being targeted, he just didn't have to worry.

And that worried him the most.

Fred gave Alpha instructions to teleport him to the Cranston household and as soon as he arrived, he went inside and found Dana, Bailey, and Avalon sitting on the floor of the living room, talking over a bowl of popcorn that sat in the middle of their circle. Avalon looked up as he walked over and smiled and nodded at him. "Hey Fred," she greeted him. "How ya going?"

"I'm fine," Fred replied, sitting down on the couch behind Bailey. He stretched his legs over the arm of the couch and leaned over the purple ranger, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "What are you doing? I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"You're not," Dana reassured him with a light wave of her hand. She brushed her blonde hair over her cheek. "We were just talking…trying to get to know each other a bit…" she trailed off as an awkward silence filled the room. Bailey turned twisted around to her boyfriend as she explained, "Dana and…our Dad are leaving in a couple of hours and we were trying to…like she said, and get to know each other a bit, yeah?"

"You're leaving already?" Fred's eyebrows rose. Dana hadn't been around long; he was sure the girls would've had more time to spend time together, bonding over their shared parentage of their father but there had been so much time invested towards Kat, Goldar, Rito, Rita, and Zedd as they had been around. Especially in the means of trying to keep the ancient zords away from their city. "I mean, you haven't really been here long."

"I know," Dana agreed. She gave a soft smile. "The only reason we came out here was because I had…found out about you guys and I asked about you. I wanted to know if you knew what had happened with our families…and I guess you all knew before I did." She shrugged as the orange ninja ranger gave a slight snorting sound. "It was a spur of the moment decision, but I'm glad that we managed to get some time to come out here. Dad can't be gone from work much longer so we'll have to leave."

"Our mum is going to be staying here for a while," Bailey added. "Just to catch up and to be sure everything's going okay." There was another pregnant pause and the purple ninja ranger scratched the back of her head before turning to Fred. "So what's up? Where'd you been all day? I called over to your place and your Dad said you've been gone most of the morning. That you had some research to do…"

As she trailed off, Fred blinked blankly at her. His mind suddenly whirled through his conversation with Zordon and Alpha; how the crane powers were still unlinked from Kim, how despite she was stronger, she was still sick, how the bond between a human and an animal spirit, on the other hand, couldn't be broken. As they had said, Kim could still be a power ranger, but at what cost if she didn't realize she had a problem.

"You said that Dana is studying to be a doctor, right?" Fred suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Avalon said slowly as Dana nodded. "Why?"

Instead of responding to her, Fred turned towards the blonde girl who sat up straight, looking back at him. "Dana, maybe you could do us a favor," he said.

Dana's eyebrows rose.

* * *

Tommy watched as Kimberly landed on the protective mats of the Youth Center and threw her hands into the air over her head. She then turned to the side, swinging one arm to the side and raising it back above her head once more. Smiling, the white ninja ranger clapped appreciatively and Kimberly gave him a quick smile before turning to Coach Schmidt and listening carefully to what he had to say. That was when Tommy frowned, watching as the coach said something to the pink ninja ranger that caused her smile to fade.

How could he stand there and allow Kim to continue with her gymnastics training, not noticing she was holding onto the balance beam for dear life as she hung on to his every word? How could he not notice how she was gently swaying back and forth as he continued to push her through each and every trick that would allow her to go to the Pan Globals?

When he had called to see what she was up to that day, having something he needed to tell her, he was only a bit surprised to find that she jumped back into her gymnastics training. Now that she had her coin back she was stronger than she had been the past couple of weeks, but the damage had already been done. The white ninja ranger leaned back in his seat, stretching his legs out in front of him, crossing his arms as he watched his girlfriend get talked through another trick by her coach, doing as many flips and jump splits over the balance beam before flipping off the end of the beam and landing on the ground. This time, however, she came down wrong on her ankle and limped a little bit as she tried to catch her balance. Once secure, she turned back to Coach Schmidt, who smiled and said something to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Then she picked up her towel and hurried over towards Tommy, collapsing into the seat next to him. "Tommy, you won't believe this! Coach Schmidt says that he can really see me improving. He's even saying that I might be able to go to this year's Pan Globals. This _year!_ Don't you know how amazing that is?" She reached out and grabbed onto Tommy's wrist, unable to keep the grin from her face. "This is everything I've ever dreamed of, I can't believe this is happening."

"I'm really happy for you, Kim," Tommy said. He sat up straight in his seat. "I really am. But don't you think you may be pushing yourself a little bit too hard?" At Kimberly's confused glance, he bobbed his head back and forth for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I'm just saying that you just got your coin back, and we just broke whatever spell it was that Rita and Zedd had on Kat and on your coin. I don't want you to push yourself too hard."

"I have to practice, silly," Kimberly reminded him with a light roll of her eyes. She then playfully swatted him not he arm. "You know how important practicing is. I mean, you and Jason practice your martial arts all the time."

"Yes, but we know when to rest," he pointed out.

Now Kimberly's smile faded a little as his words sunk in. "I've been resting very since I couldn't fight along with you guys with my own powers. I've always had to leave practice; Coach Schmidt said he was starting to worry whether or not I really did want to go to work with him. He's even saying he might take me to Florida to train even more diligently."

Wait a minute. Tommy sat up straight, briefly closing his eyes. "Wait a minute." He reached out his hand, gently resting it on hers before opening his eyes and looking directly in them. "You're leaving Angel Grove?"

"I-I don't know," Kimberly admitted. Her cheeks reddened as she pulled her hand back away from his wrist. "I mean, it's just something we're talking about at the moment. But wouldn't it be a great opportunity? It's like…it's like Trini and going off to Vietnam to visit her family and to learn about the culture. Do you think she would've turned around and said 'no' deciding to stay here in Angel Grove, rather than taking one of the best opportunities that ever came her way."

"No," Tommy admitted. "But she also wasn't worried about becoming too old before she could get as far as she wanted to go. Plus,"—he paused, looking at her meaningfully—"she's not sick."

Now Kimberly's face darkened and she scowled at her boyfriend. She mimicked his stance, sinking low in her seat and crossing her arms. "I'm not sick," she said calmly. "I've just been working really hard. And…" she lowered her voice. "The monster fights had taken more out of me than I thought it would. But now everything's back to normal."

"So it's normal that you were choking the life out of the balance beam while you talked to Coach Schmidt?" Tommy insisted, with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't help the sarcasm that crept into his tone, causing Kimberly's eyes to narrow even further. "And that everything you wear appears to be three sizes too big on you, that you haven't really eaten anything for a long time."

"I was listening hard to what he had to say," Kimberly defended herself. "I have to make sure I take in everything he says so I can be the best I can be. And so I've lost a little bit of weight, so what? I haven't been working as hard on this…ever! It used to just be a dream for me, not something I thought was a reality. And so I've had to go on a bit of a diet."

"You call not eating anything at all a diet?"

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Dana's voice broke in as she pulled out a chair, sitting by them. "I just…I couldn't help but hear your argument across the Youth Center, and I'm sort of glad I did." She laced her fingers together and rested on the table top. "I couldn't help but hear you say that you haven't been eating for a while."

The pink ninja ranger rolled her eyes, letting out a light huff. "He's exaggerating," she quickly explained. "He's making this much of a bigger deal than it actually is. I'm just working really hard with my gymnastics."

"I can see that," Dana said with a light smile, her eyes rolling over the girl's arms. "You have a lot more muscle tone that I could ever hope to have. You all must stay in great shape with all of the monster fights coming around all the time. I'm surprised you manage to continue to find time practicing your gymnastics so much. I heard you're going to the Pan Globals."

Kimberly glanced over at Tommy with a smug look to her face, almost sneering and Tommy sucked in a deep breath, doing his best to keep from allowing his full-blown anxiety to take him over. "Well, we don't know about it, yet, but I can't wait."

"I think it'll be an amazing opportunity," Dana agreed. Then her smile faded slightly before she regarded Kimberly with a serious look. "I just wish that it didn't come at such a bad time. Considering your condition and all."

"What condition?"

"You're anorexic."

Tommy's eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath once he heard the name of the problem said out loud, so bluntly. Anorexia. He heard about that from his health classes, where someone wouldn't eat a lot, but exercise to lose a lot of weight. Then there had been the pictures, the skin and bones people had turned out to be. Kimberly didn't seem to be that far from it, but then again…he hadn't noticed her change in demeanor or anything until it had basically been pointed out to him.

 _Even with all of the time Kim and I spent together I hadn't noticed,_ Tommy thought, shame filling his guts. _How can I be so in love with her…and not know. Maybe I could've helped her before it got so bad._

"Anorexic?" Kimberly gave a loud laugh. "I don't have anorexia."

"It's not something you _have_ it's something you are. Anorexic. You have the eating disorder but you _are_ anorexic." Dana tilted her head to the side and regarded the pink ninja ranger with a long look. "And as sad as it is to say, it's not something that's very surprising. It seems to run rampant throughout sports that have high female participation and is highly publicized. Such as…running, ballet…well, dance in general, gymnastics, figure skating, modeling…"

"And you think this is what Kim has?" Tommy said. He clenched his hands into fists, dropping them to his lap. He could feel his whole body starting to shake, filled with the energy of knowing there was finally an answer to an unknown problem.

Now the blonde teen hesitated. "I can't say for sure, because I'm not a doctor." Kimberly let out a loud 'ha' as if that solved the matter entirely. "But from what I've been told from Fred, Bailey, and Avalon you have a lot of people who are worried about you, Kim. And you've already been in the hospital for malnourishment. This can get worse, fast."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Kimberly said calmly. "I don't have anorexia. I'm not anorexic. I'm eating just fine. I'm getting in shape for the Pan Globals. I'm working hard, I've fought monsters nearly every day, and I'm doing the best I can!"

"I was sure you'd say that. And I've talked to Coach Schmidt to see what he had to say about it." Dana turned her head and nodded, allowing Coach Schmidt to walk to over to the table and join them. "I bumped into him on the way in here and recognized him. After I've told him everything that you and your friends have told me—"

"That's none of your business!" Kimberly practically yelped. Her eyes widened as she gazed at Coach Schmidt, who gazed at her with concern. "Coach Schmidt, I promise I've just been working as hard as I could. I want to make you proud." She slowly sat down in her seat, turning to Tommy. "I want to make _everyone_ proud. I don't…I don't want to constantly have to be saved, to be the weak one…"

And then Tommy understood it. She wasn't just talking about gymnastics. She was talking about being a ranger. He could see it now, almost as if he had a direct look into the past. Her explanation about having a big breakfast the day they went skydiving. How hard she had tried to fight when they were on Phaedos, her constant bouts of dizziness and needing his help. It had started long before her coin had been taken and he hadn't noticed it. She didn't eat a lot, she always had explanation for it…and she was going to the gym so much. _Gosh, Tommy, how could you be so stupid._ Was he the only one that didn't know or did he ignore everything that was right in front of him? He remembered Jason saying something about it, showing his concern, but he had been so focused on stopping Rita and Zedd and keeping Kim's health from deteriorating even further that he hadn't thought there was another reason to it.

"Kimberly, listen, you truly are talented," Coach Schmidt said. "But I can't help you if you're not going to allow yourself to be up to peak physical form. Not if you're doing what I've been told."

"But what about the Pan Globals?" Kimberly whispered. "I really want to go to it."

"It's my understanding that there have been many gymnastic participants that have battled this disease and have continued to enter competitions when they were given the chance," Dana said. She glanced over at Coach Schmidt, who nodded quietly. "And I don't think Coach Schmidt wants to give up on you yet." She gave a small smile, causing Kimberly to laugh lightly but she continued to keep her head bowed towards her lap. "I've done some research, there's a facility in Florida that specializes in treatment for your disease. It's one of the best in the country."

"I have a training facility in Florida as well," Coach Schmidt added. "One that I think will greatly benefit you when it comes to getting to the point I believe you can get at. If you're as serious about your health as you are about the Pan Globals, then I can get you to that point. But you have to be in top form, you have to take care of yourself too."

Reaching up a hand, Kimberly brushed away a tear that slid down her cheek. Tommy then leaned forward and used the palms of his hands to brush away the tears that continued to stream down his girlfriend's cheeks. She became receptive to his touch and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she could. Tommy could feel her shaking as she finally allowed herself to come face to face with the demons that had been haunting her long before they had lost their original powers and went off to Phaedos.

"Tommy?" Kimberly whimpered. She pulled away from Tommy's chest, holding onto his forearms as tightly as she could. "I'm scared."

"Its okay, Kim," Tommy replied. He gave her a kiss on the forehead then pulled her back to his chest, hugging her tightly. "Everything's going to be okay."

…

..

.

Tommy let out a light laugh as Kimberly's grip tightened on his hand when the name of her flight was called. He turned towards her and kissed the top of her head as their friends all got up from their seats to move to the gate, ready to say goodbye to their friend. Kimberly and Tommy held back for a bit, the white ninja ranger giving her time to get her bearings together.

"I can't believe I'm leaving Angel Grove," Kimberly said. "I've lived here my whole life and now…" She shook her head, turning towards her boyfriend, the love of her life. "Is this how you felt when you were moving to Angel Grove the first time? Before you met the rest of us?"

Looking towards the ceiling of the airport, Tommy thought for a moment. "Do you mean before or after Rita got a hold of me?" He laughed lightly as Kimberly lightly smacked him on the stomach. "I'm kidding, Kim. Yeah, moving was really hard. It was really scary. Going to a new place, having to start all over. Thankfully I managed to meet all of you guys." Kimberly nodded and lowered her head. "Everything's going to be okay, Kim."

"I know." Kimberly wiped at her eyes. "I'm just going to miss you. All of you guys. Now I know how hard it was for Jason, Zack, and Trini to give up their powers, too. It was something that was a part of us for so long."

"Did you ever get a hold of Zack and Trini?"

"I talked to Trini all last night, telling her everything that's been going on and she's proud of me. She's worried, but proud. You know, Trini. I couldn't get a hold of Zack, it seems like no one can lately." She suddenly sucked in a deep breath, shoulders moving up towards her ears, then whipped around and faced her boyfriend with wide eyes. "You don't think we'll lose touch do you? I want you to promise me that nothing will change, Tommy. Okay?"

"I promise." Tommy reached up his hands and cupped her cheeks. "None of us could ever forget you, Kim. _I_ can never forget you, you know that." Kimberly brought up her hands and placed them on his, smiling at him. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss, which he returned and kissed her on the forehead again. "C'mon."

"Wait!" Kimberly's hand grasped his tightly, rooting him in place. She looked at him curiously. "Before Dana came to talk to us…you wanted to meet up to tell me something? What did you want to tell me?"

Huh? He wanted to tell her something?

 _Oh yeah!_ The smile on Tommy's face couldn't be hidden, despite the sadness of Kimberly's leaving only moments away. "Well, we got a call. Mom, Dad, and me. Our social worker lawyer came by and…told us that everything was cleared and checked out. The adoption has been closed. Avalon and Bailey are, officially, my sisters."

The pink ninja ranger's mouth dropped open in surprise before she wrapped her arms around Tommy's neck and hugged him tightly. "Oh! That's so exciting! I can't believe it! You must be so happy." She pulled away from Tommy and looked up at him. "They haven't said anything. Do they know yet?"

"No." He shook his head. "None of us have told them yet. I don't think now would be the right time." He gave her a meaningful look as her flight was called again. "C'mon, I don't think your Mom wants to go to Florida without you."

Kimberly managed a light giggle before taking in a deep breath. She took Tommy's hand in hers once more before turning and starting her walk over to her friends. "Well," She said, coming to a stop in front of them. "This is it. I just want you guys to know that…even though it's probably still going to take me a while to understand all of this…I really haven't had any better friends than you all." She turned to Dana. "Especially you. I know we don't know each other at all, but…if you hadn't come talk to me…" she trailed off, knowing everyone had an idea of what was going on.

"You shouldn't thank me." Dana shook her head. "Thank Fred. He was the one that suggested I go talk to you. But it was Avalon who really insisted that I do it."

Kimberly smiled over at the orange ninja ranger, who shrugged modestly. "I can't have you going around fainting on us all the time, yeah? I mean I already thought you were kinda scrawny but…" she smiled as Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"You're shorter than I am," the pink ninja ranger pointed out.

"Yeah, but what I lack in height I make up with an astronomical sense of confidence."

Around them their friends all laughed. Kimberly then moved to each of her friends to give them hugs and to say her goodbyes. They had already done it earlier in the day, but now things were starting to become more real. She was only minutes away from getting on that plane and leaving them. When Kimberly reached Jason she held onto him tightly, squeezing him as hard as she could.

"Careful, Kim, I think you're going to break me in half," Jason commented with a light laugh, hugging her back.

"I have to do something that would show you that I'm not just the little girl that you have to protect all the time, Jase," Kimberly replied. "Not that I wasn't thankfully. I just hope you know that I can take care of myself." She smiled up at him and hugged him again.

"I have no doubt about that, Kim," Jason hugged her back just as tightly. She then moved onto Billy, who looked like he was trying his hardest not to cry. If any indication of his bangs falling over his eyes proved.

"You know, out of our original team, I think I was the closest to you, Billy," Kimberly said to him. He lifted his head and regarded her with surprise. "I mean, you and I were the ones that were always underestimated but we managed to get up there with the others, right?" She reached out and held onto his hands. "Besides, I don't think anyone can be closer than two people who managed to switch bodies at once point." Billy smiled and gave Kimberly a hug. She rubbed his back. "You're going to do great, Billy, please remember that."

"I will."

"And make sure that Tommy doesn't let his tardiness continue to keep him from some great opportunities that'll come his way," she added. "Especially considering his grades could use an improvement from that department." She giggled then moved over to Bailey. "I know that things seem to be really hard for you right now, having a great sense of responsibility and venturing off into being a teenager. But I want you know that things will get easier and if you ever need to talk, I'm always here to listen. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something because you're younger or because you're a girl." Bailey nodded earnestly and hugged her. "And if Fred ever does anything wrong, let me or Tommy know, we'll straighten him out."

Fred frowned and Kimberly reached over, pushing his hat off his head and ruffled his hair. "I'm kidding, Fred, I know you'll take good care of her and of the Command Center." Then it was the orange ranger's turn. "You know, when we first met, I didn't think I was going to be friends with you. Knowing that you were so against what we were doing…but you were doing your best to provide a good life for your sister and I can't fault anyone for that. You've shown me what it really means to stick to what you believe in and not letting anyone get in the way of that."

Sucking in a deep breath through her nose, Avalon smiled at her the pink ranger. "And you've shown me what it means to have a best friend, Pinkerbell…Kim." The girls smiled at each other and Avalon wrapped her arms around Kimberly's shoulders, holding her tightly against her as the two girls hugged. "I'm really going to miss you, yeah? Before you, I didn't know anyone that liked to shop nearly as much as I do. You really are my best friend, Kim."

"You're my best friend, too," Kimberly hugged her back. She stepped back, keeping her hands on Avalon's shoulders. "But, please, start thinking before you make some decisions. I know you can be impulsive, but you need t be careful."

"Promise."

Then Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were left before Kimberly reached Tommy. "I know I haven't known you guys long, but you've done such a great job with the positions you've been given. I don't think we could have defeated Ivan or any of the Tengas or other monsters without you. I'm going to miss you guys so much." She gave each of them a hug. "Aisha, your excitement always rubs off on me. Rocky, I love your love of life and everything in it, and Adam, I can't thank you enough. If you hadn't have found out…if you hadn't had tried talking to me…things might've turned out differently."

"Of course," Adam replied. "This isn't going to be the same without you."

Kimberly nodded and turned to Kat. She reached out and held onto her hand. "I know things don't make a lot of sense right now, but I know things will turn out alright for you, Kat, don't give up."

"I could never do that," Kat replied. "Not when I have you looking out for me."

Finally, the white ninja ranger was left to say goodbye to. But what could be said that the two hadn't said to each other before? They had been through so much together since Tommy first arrived at Angel Grove. She hadn't known there was such a thing as love at first sight until she had met Tommy. She had been on dates and had boyfriends before but…there was something different about him. He was always there for her just as she was always going to be there for him. It would be hard with the two f them being in a long distance relationship as she got better but she knew nothing would be change how much she loved him.

And as she and Tommy continued to gaze into each other's eyes, she knew he was feeling the exact same way. They didn't need to say anything, they could just feel it. Tommy reached out and caressed Kimberly's cheek, causing her to close her eyes and turned her cheek into his palm. Then the two were in each other's arms, hugging each other as tightly as they ever had.

"C'mon, Kimmy, it's time to leave."

Kimberly looked over her shoulder towards her mother and Coach Schmidt as they stood by the gate, already having had their tickets processed through the airlines. Tommy reached over and took Kimberly's carry-on bag, gently putting it onto her shoulder. He then reached in to a side pocket and pulled out a stuffed teddy bear she hadn't seen before. "I thought you would like it for the trip," he explained. Though I also thought you have found it earlier, you always were good at sniffing out presents."

She hugged the bear to her chest, before leaning in and giving Tommy a kiss. "It's cute, thank you." Then she took a step back and sighed, looking back and forth along her friends. "I guess I have to go. Please, whatever you do, keep working together and make sure you have each other's back." Tears came to her eyes once more and she blinked hard to keep them from falling. "I love you guys, so much." She blew them a kiss then turned on her heel to get her ticket processed. Then she joined her mother and Coach Schmidt and they headed onto the plane.

Kimberly turned away from her friends and disappeared through the gate. She did her best to resist turning around and running back to her friends; to stay with them and help make sure the city was safe.

She knew being a ranger was always going to be part of her past, present, and future no matter where she was in life.

She just hoped they knew it, too.


	38. Pinky

**Chapter 38**

_Pinky (8)_

* * *

Kat rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if she was supposed to feel different. She did feel more powered as it was, that she knew to expect, and she had felt a bit of a tingling sensation when she was to and from the Command Center. But otherwise, she didn't feel anything. Not yet. Maybe the gravity of the responsibility she now held hadn't washed over her yet.

Or maybe, it was because she knew it was going to take a while for the other rangers to trust her. Especially after having had worked for Rita and Zedd for so long. Now, she knew, she was going to be a target for the two of them as a means of revenge, she had screwed up their plans. Not only that but…she couldn't get rid of the overwhelming feeling of evil that resided somewhere in her head. She could still clearly see everything she had done to them in her head. The way she had fought each of them, how she had kidnapped Kim to take her to be Zedd's queen, her training with Goldar, how Rita had managed to entrap her in her schemes in the first place.

 _Maybe I'm not cut out to be a ranger,_ Kat thought, turning onto her side and hugging her pillow. _Why would Kim want to give me her powers after everything I've done?_

She closed her eyes, thinking back to earlier that day, before Kim announced her intentions of leaving to go to the treatment facility in Florida. Kat had been at her house, catching up on the reading for her homework when she heard her mother call that someone was at the door for her. Setting her book aside, she went down to the front door, stopping on the bottom step when she spotted Kimberly standing in the foyer, her hands lightly clasped together in front of her.

"Kim," Kat remarked. "Um…what are you doing here?" She lowered her head. "Look, I don't…I still don't' really remember what happened. But I'm so sorry about—"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kim reassured her, waving her hand. She shrugged lightly, "As long as we've been fighting Rita and Zedd there's always been someone that Rita and Zedd target for their use. It was just you that they targeted this time. I've been under their spell a few times before."

"Really?" Kat's eyebrows rose. She hadn't expected that. Kim was always so nice and helpful to those around her. How could the most popular girl be the one who got taken over by them.

"Really. Rita once turned me against my best friend, Trini, when we were fighting. Then there was a time they gave me a really bad day at school before putting me inside a pot. Then there was the time that they destroyed my float for the Angel Grove parade, when Zedd tried to make me his queen, they ruined one of my dates with Tommy, they pit me and Tommy against each other for president, the list goes on and on." The pink ranger giggled lightly. "Rita and Zedd love to make our lives miserable and at some point they've targeted all of us. Just think of it as a sort of initiation or something."

"Yeah, but…" Kat stepped down from the stairs and stood by Kimberly's side. "Things were really aggro when I was working for them. They made me do a lot of bad things. I don't…"

Reaching out, Kimberly placed her hands on the blonde girl's shoulders and looked in her eyes. "Kat. If you were completely under their spell, you wouldn't have been so nice to us. You wouldn't have been our friend, you wouldn't have held back sometimes. When Tommy was under Rita's rule he did everything Rita asked and did nothing other than antagonize us when he got the chance. You're different; there's something within you that kept you from allowing yourself over to them completely. You're strong, Kat and that's something that the team needs." Kat stared at Kimberly, her eyebrows lowering her over blue eyes in confusion. "You see…I'm not going to be around soon, I…I have to leave and being so far away, I'm not going to be able to be a ranger anymore."

"Oh no! Kim, I'm sorry!" Kat brought her hands up and held them over her mouth. "I reckon it's something I did. If I hadn't had fought you guys so much—"

"It's not your fault, Kat, it's mine," Kimberly interrupted. "I guess I'm not doing so well and I can't continue to uphold my ranger duties." She took a step forward and smiled up at Kat. "And that's where you come in."

"Me?"

"Yes, I need you to come with me. Right now." Kimberly looked around before reaching out and grabbing onto Kat's hand. She smiled up at the taller teenage girl and Kat looked back at her in confusion before she felt a strange tingling sensation. It started in her toes then spread up her legs and her calves, up through her stomach, and her chest. It spread throughout her entire body before the confines of her house suddenly disappeared.

Kat gasped as she watched the world pass by as she and Kimberly teleported to the Command Center. Was that what they got to see every time they teleported to and from a battle scene? It was beautiful, something she could get used to. Then she felt her feet land on the ground and she instinctively looked around as Kimberly let go of her hand. Mouth open in silence, Kat looked around at the pillars, lights, and control panels that continued to blink and glimmer around her. She then caught sight of Zordon and her eyes widened before she turned to the rangers, Jason, and Fred, who all gave differing levels of greeting.

"Hi guys," She said, giving a shy wave.

"Rangers," Zordon started out, his voice booming along the small room. "As with Jason, Zack, and Trini, it is with a heavy heart that we have to go through with this proceedings. However, it was at Kimberly's suggestion to do so as she believes it is right time for her to pass on the torch." Kat looked over at Kimberly, who nodded in agreement. "She has expressed to me that she feels that she will not be able to continue her ranger duties."

"Kimberly, you have been a great ranger," Alpha added. "A great part of the team that will surely be missed once you leave."

Bringing a hand up to her face, Kimberly wiped away a tear before looking over at her friends. "I have to do this. It will be really hard to get used to it, but I have to. I need…I need to get better so that I can return to you guys. And the Pan Globals is an opportunity I can't pass up." She clasped her hands together and turned back towards her friends, who waited quietly. "I'm really going to miss you guys, but I know this is the right decision for me. For us. When I became a power ranger, I made a promise to stand by you guys, and I know that this is the right thing for you guys to continue to save the world." She continued to wipe the tears away that fell down her face.

Aisha made a noise of sadness and she and Avalon moved over and wrapped her arms around the pink ranger, hugging her tightly. Kimberly smiled and accepted their hugs before continuing. "I know you guys have been looking out for me over the past couple of months, especially you, Adam." She motioned to the black ranger, who looked embarrassed "You kept trying to get met o talk, to admit what was going on and I couldn't do that. I was focusing too much on trying to be a better ranger, to be the _best_ ranger."

"Kim, you know that each of us brings something different to the team," Jason pointed out, arms crossed over his chest in his natural stance. "If we were all the same, we wouldn't have been able to defeat as many monsters as we already have."

"He's right," Billy agreed. "You've done just as much for the team as the rest of us have. Don't belittle yourself."

"I'm not," Kimberly replied. "I'm coming to terms with something. I'm admitting that I do have a problem. I'm anorexic and I have to deal with my eating disorder…but I still want to go to the Pan Globals. Thankfully, there's a treatment facility down in Florida where I can get help, and when I get better, Coach Schmidt has a facility down there that will help me work towards the Pan Globals. I have time to get there and…I can't pass this up."

"Of course not, Kim," Tommy agreed. He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're very true to yourself and you wouldn't be able to live without gymnastics. I think we all know that." He managed to let out a light laugh, though Kat could easily see the sadness within his eyes. It was then that Kat realized why she was there. She was going to be replacing Kim as a power ranger, to take up the empty spot on the team.

A part of her was excited, it was the biggest portion of responsibility she has ever had. But there was a also a part of her that wondered if she really was right for the job. _I helped Rita and Zedd, why would they want me to take her place on the team? If they even want me to take her place._ Judging by the tension that filled the Command Center, Kat didn't really think so and she didn't blame them for their hesitation.

"We're really going to miss you, Kim," Rocky added.

"And you know that we'll always be here for you," Fred added.

Kim smiled and nodded. She gently pushed Avalon and Aisha away from her and went over to Kat. "And I'll always be there for you guys, too. So much so that I can't stand the idea of you guys being a broken team without me there. So…I brought Kat with me. I know it might be hard for you guys to come to terms with this, but I think she'll be a great pink ranger. She's strong; she managed to continuously fend off Rita and Zedd so that they didn't completely take her over. I know that she can do this and I know you guys will come to see it in time."

Brushing her hair back from her face, Kat tried to hide her growing smile, but couldn't help to allow it to take over her face. She was really ready for her to become the replacement and if Kimberly had that much faith in her…then she was doing something right.

"Thank you, Kimberly," Kat said and reached out, giving her a hug. Kimberly hugged her back just as tightly. "I'll do my best to make you proud."

"I've got a question though," Bailey stated, raising her hand in the air. "If Kat is a part of our team now, what does that mean for the control that Rita and Zedd had over her? Like Kim said, Kat managed to break their hold on her over and over again, will they be able to infiltrate us or something?"

"That's actually a really good question," Billy pointed out. "And something I haven't thought of." He tilted his head to the side, thinking for a moment before turning back to Zordon. "Is that something we have to worry about?"

"We are not sure," Alpha replied. "There was a lot of power that Rita had put into her if she had managed to have a hold on her for that long. But as you have both mentioned, she broke free a few times. Ay yi yi yi yi yi!" He raised his hands to his forehead and shook back and forth. "There's so much to think about."

"It doesn't matter!" Kat intervened. "I'm going to help you guys the best I can and if Rita ever ties to take me back, I'll continue to fight until I'm free of her hold forever." She clenched her hands into fists, really feeling what she was saying. _I have to do this. This is what Kim wants, this is what I want. This is something that needs to be done._

Zordon gave her a smile that appeared to be a proud smile of that of a father. Kat smiled back at him, sure she had his blessing. No one was saying anything about her not being part of the team, no one was outright objecting to what was going on. That was a good sign. All she had to do was win them over, to prove that she could hang with the best of them and that she was taking it seriously.

"I knew I made the right choice," Kimberly said. She reached over to her communicator and popped off the top. Reaching inside, she pulled out her pink crane coin and smiled at it. "It took me a while to get you back," she said to it in a low murmur. "But I know this is the right decision for all of us." She brought the coin to her lips and gave it a light kiss before pressing it into Kat's hands, holding her hands over it on her own. Kat smiled as a wave of pink electricity crackled from Kim's fingertips to Kat's and traveled up her arms.

Kat closed her blue eyes, feeling the power that washed over her. It was official.

"The power of the crane is all yours now," Kimberly said to her. "Welcome to the power rangers." Kat smiled and held her hand tightly over Kimberly's, unable to find the words that would accurately show her gratitude. Kimberly let out a low sigh. "I'm going to miss you guys a lot, but I know this is what's best for us all." She paused, bobbing her head back and forth. "And making my flight."

A light round of laugher filled the Command Center.

Afterwards Kim had started to say goodbye o her friends but found it hard to do without crying, and the group had broken up pretty quickly afterwards, going to do their own thing, to allow the news to sink in before going to the airport to give her their final goodbyes.

After the plane had left, Kat went back to her house—choosing to drive there rather than teleport as she wasn't used to it yet—and that's where she currently was in her room, going through everything in her head over and over again.

"All right." Kat sat up and looked down at the communicator that lay on her wrist. It flashed a bright pink for a second. "No more sulking. You have to show the others that you're taking this seriously. You're the pink ranger now and you have to start acting like it."

And she was going to do just that.


	39. Moving On

**Chapter 39**

_Moving On_

* * *

Lt. Stone ran his hands over his face as Bulk and Skull stood in front of him trying to explain away the destruction of their cop car. It wasn't the first time it happened and probably wouldn't be the last, But, they were doing a good job while out on the streets, not only had they given a lot of traffic tickets, but they had performed exemplary when it came to evacuating the city when a new monster came down, as well as if the relief efforts when it came around again.

And they were always the first ones on the job and the last ones to leave, so, that was something. And yet, he couldn't help but clench his teeth and allow the veins in his forehead to throb every time he thought about the sort of stupid thing they had managed to do, as there was always something that came up whether they tried to do it or not.

"And then the car…rolled into the lake," Bulk finished the story. "But we want you to know, sir, that we know exactly where it is and we'll do our best to get it back and…" he puffed out his chest, placing his hand so his hips. "No one got hurt."

"Not even the lifeguards on the lifeguard tower that we ran over!" Skull added. Bulk's smile slowly faded before he turned and glared at Skull, as he had been hoping to keep that part out of their story. Then again, how were they supposed to know that the 'shortcut' they had taken to get back to Angel Grove from a call was going to end up with them at the lake? If Skull knew how to read a map, it wouldn't have been a problem. "I mean, they got out of the way in time—"

"—I don't need to hear anymore, Skullovitch," Lt. Stone interrupted, removing his hands from his face. He was sure that the vein on his forehead was starting to visibly throb as hard as his heart was pounding. "I don't…need to hear anymore. It's going to take a while before you two get a new squad car and even then, the chief will want to know that you had some sort of consequence over the reckless driving and endangerment you've managed to put the city in on a daily basis."

Bulk lightly cleared his throat. "With all due respect, sir, we have also been doing a great job when it comes to—"

"—When it comes to the relief of the city from monster sand the evacuation process, I agree," Lt. Stone said, rising up from behind his desk. "However I still can't allow you to get off scot-free so for the time being, you two are suspended until we can get you another vehicle, and make sure that you are able to discern whether or not it is the opportune time to use your own instincts rather than what our training has given you."

Bulk and Skull hung their heads, knowing it wasn't time for them to argue. He was right and they had to respect his decision as his inferiors. Lt. Stone motioned them towards the door and they started to leave, only stopping when Lt. Stone called after them. "It should give you time to go visit your friend in the hospital. I hear that she's finally being released; it was pretty touch and go there for a while. However, as she is considered an adult there may be some tough consequences coming her way, rehab, being put on a hold of some sort. That is, if they find that it was anything more than an accident."

"Thank you, Lt. Stone," Skull said. He turned to Bulk and tilted his head towards the door of the office. Bulk nodded in agreement and lifted his hat off his head, holding it against his chest. He followed Skull out of the room and out of the police station. "C'mon, I think we have enough time to catch Sharky before she gets released from the hospital."

"I know, I know," Bulk agreed. "You've been going there long enough to know the daily schedule."

"So?"

"So, the doctors and nurses know you by name. The women in the cafeteria know your lunch order specifically, and it's all done like clockwork." He started to snap his fingers to the passing of each second, causing Skull to roll his eyes and shake his head. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, I'm just saying that maybe there's a reason you're going there that you're not saying."

"Like?" Skull placed his hands into his pockets as the two started their short walk to the hospital. "Sharky's our friend, Bulkie. Despite not having seen her for a while when she was gone we are still friends."

"Or, maybe you've fallen for her." This caused Skull to stop in his tracks so quickly that Bulk nearly walked into him. Annoyed, Bulk reached out and shoved Skull on the arm. "Hey! What's the big idea? I nearly flattened you like a pancake."

"What makes you think that?" Skull started walking once more. Bulk regarded him with confused. "About me and Sharky. What makes you think that I've fallen for her or whatever? He let out a light laugh. You know the only girl for me is Kimberly."

"And if you haven't noticed, you and Kimberly haven't spoken to each other in a long time, and besides, she went to Florida for treatment, remember?" Bulk reached out and placed his hand on Skull's shoulder, gently shaking him. "Skull, Skull, Skull, you underestimate me. You see, I pay attention to a lot of things. And the way that you treated Kimberly was just a simple high school crush. All of the time that you've been spending with Sharky, making sure she wasn't arrested, making sure she wasn't sent back to her aunt's place, visiting her nearly every day when she said she didn't want you around…even I don't go there as much as you do and I'm just her friend."

Skull shrugged.

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, as a matter of fact I think you were the only one that didn't notice she had a crush on you when you were so busy paying attention to Kimberly."

"Then what are you saying?" Skull glanced over at Bulk, eyebrows rising.

A smile pulled at Bulk's lips and he patted him not he shoulder. "I'm saying that you're growing up, Skully. You're growing up." His grin widened and Skull looked at him a few seconds longer before grinning at him as well. "But that also means that I hold the liberty of making fun of you sometimes. You know, saying how it's cute that you're getting along so well. Asking when the wedding is, wondering what you'd name your kids."

"Ha ha." Skull should Bulk hard on the shoulder and his larger friend laughed loudly. The two arrived at the hospital and greeted the nurses at the front desk, to Bulk's amusement as they mentioned wondering when Skull was going to arrive as Sharky was about to leave. Skull gave Bulk a withering look before giving him the finger. They arrived at Sharky's room and knocked on the door frame before going in. "Knock, knock."

Sharky turned away from her bag and smiled a little when she spotted Bulk and Skull. "Hey guys," She greeted them. Brushing her short hair behind her ears, she motioned to her room before slapping her arms to her sides. "I would've thrown a party but I wasn't allowed to bring anything into my room and the hospital food is crap, so…"

"It's not so bad once you get used to it," Skull pointed out. "I like the mashed potatoes anyway."

"And there's a reason I always bring my own food if not going to the vending machine," Bulk said, feeling as if he was the third wheel to the conversation. If the way Sharky and Skull were looking at each other was any indication. "So what are you going to do once you're out of here?" As Sharky tilted her head to the side in thought, Bulk looked her over. Gone was the tough, biker look that he and the rest of their 'group' had worn while they were still traversing through the halls of Angel Grove High, and in its place was a simple jean jacket over a light colored sundress and light brown boots. She had even cut her long, unruly hair to a shoulder length bob.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I have to see if there's anyone out here that would want to take me in or else I'll be moving again." She reached up and scratched the back of her head, turning back and forth between the young men. "As it is, I'm staying with a friend as long as I can get back on my feet."

"You don't mean Colt do you?" Skull asked, eyebrows furrowing together. He looked over at Bulk, who pressed his lips together, lightly shaking his head. He was the last member of their group that hadn't seemed to have moved on in his life at all. Colt had been kicked out of school the year before Bulk and Skull but still lived the same lifestyle on his own. He partied nearly every night and still had bad influences around him. Every now and then, Bulk and Skull took a call to his apartment after someone had complained about the noise.

He wouldn't even be surprised if Colt had been at that massive party where Sharky had gotten alcohol poisoning. Things had moved so fast that night, the only thing that he and Skull cared about in that moment was making sure that the two of them got Sharky out of the dangerous situation she had been in.

Sharky shrugged, her face suddenly blank. Her silence told them it was the truth.

"You can't go back there," Skull insisted. "You don't know…what if the same thing happens all over again. You know he has a drinking problem. If you go there, you're just going to fall back into that pattern all over again."

Reaching out a hand, Bulk placed it on Sharky's shoulder, turning her to face him. "But this time you might not make it out alive."

She shrugged again, reaching out she hoisted her bag up onto her shoulders then gave the room a quick once over. "If that's the only issue, then it's not really an issue. I've been ready for it for the past couple of years, I'm not afraid anymore." She glanced at Bulk and Skull before walking out of her room, turning off the lights behind her. "You can try to talk me out of it as much as you want; I've heard it all before. But the thing is that I don't really have any other options. And unless you have any suggestions, then fuck off." She reached the nurse's station and took the discharge papers, looking over them before signing herself out.

Placing his hands on his hips, Bulk slowed, lowering his head towards the ground. He let out a light sigh and looked over towards Skull, who appeared just as lost, if not heartbroken, as he did. Bulk's eyebrows rose in surprised before he let out a light smile. He turned back towards Sharky and watched as the girl continued to make her way out of the hospital, pulling out her pone and started to dial a number. He then made a snap decision, knowing how hard it would be to adjust, but it really was the only decision for them to make if they didn't want her to get stuck in a life she wouldn't be able to get out of.

"You can stay with us."

Skull's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "She can?"

Sharky slowly turned around and looked back and forth from between the boys. "I can?" She repeated.

Nodding, Bulk crossed his arms as he walked over towards Sharky, stopping beside her. Skull continued to stare at him with his eyes bugging out, Sharky having the similar expression on her face. _Of course they have similar facial expressions,_ he thought. "Yes, you can. I mean, our place is kind of small, but we can fit one more person there. We'll wave rent for the first couple of months," he added. "But you need to get a job, so that way we know that you're working to get your life together."

Skull grabbed onto Bulk's arm and pulled him back a little bit. "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Do you have any others? Not unless you want her to be out on the streets, and we've already seen what can happen when someone lives on the streets."

"I guess you're right."

"Yeah, so you might want to clean up your boxers from the floor." His statement received a hard punch on the arm before he turned back to their friend. "Yes, Sharky, you can stay with us. We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if you stayed with Colt."

Shaky smiled a little, shuffling her feet. She ran her hands over each other then clasped them together behind her back. "Thank you," she said quietly. "You really don't have to do that, I…I haven't been…I haven't had anyone on my side in a long time. My aunt told me I would amount to nothing and that I was just going to end up like my Mom and Dad. She didn't really try to help me at all, so she sent me back. And…well, I guess you know what happened next." She reached up a hand and ran it through her hair. "I'll do my best to make sure that I pick up my fair share of the work so I can stay. But…I also have to go my meetings every now and then and my sponsor will probably come by. I need this to work, I can't leave again, I don't know where I'd go."

Skull moved forward and placed his hands on Sharky's shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "Sharky, we want you to be able to turn your life around, too. Just do what you can and we'll help you. Besides, you're going to have some company for a while if Colt or someone comes to look for you."

Sharky's eyebrows furrowed together and she gazed at Skull suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because we just got suspended from work for destroying another cop car," Bulk managed to express through gritted teeth. Sharky's eyes lit up in curiosity and he waved his hands. "It's a long story. Let's just get you there first and we'll go over some…expectations while we're there."

"Okay. Thanks."

Sharky shifted her bag up her arm and smiled at the two young men before tightening her grip on her bag. "Lead the way."

* * *

"You'd think by now I would be used to being around police," Avalon remarked, resting her head on her upraised palm. Her dark eyes shifted around those that walked back and forth in front of her. On her left, Tommy let out a light laugh, sliding down in his seat and crossing his legs at the ankle. "But I think it's really starting to get ridiculous. I must be cursed."

"Either that or you're actually going to live out your life's meaning and wind up in jail," Bailey remarked. She laughed and tried to shield herself as Avalon leaned over and started to jab her fingers into her little sister's side.

The white ninja ranger sat up and grabbed onto the orange ninja ranger's arm. "Av, I think if you keep that up, you actually will be sent to jail for assault."

"Not unless that little booger knows what's coming to her," Avalon jokingly shot back, sticking her tongue out at Bailey, who did the same, complete with wiggling her fingers in her ears. "Just wait, Tommo, you're going to have to deal with this forever at this day," She remarked, crossing her legs at the knee and turned towards him. She watched as he thought for a moment, appearing to try and keep his expression of horror from mounting.

"You're right," he agreed. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea." Then, finding that he had the two girls glaring at him, he leaned back and held up his hands defensively. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding, calm down. You know we're all excited for this to happen." He let out a breath, running his palms up and down his pants legs before looking at his watch.

The purple ninja ranger made a light humming sound. "Kim hasn't called yet, yeah?"

"No. She said there may be a few days that she couldn't contact us, because she had to focus on herself. She said she'd call as soon as she got the chance." Tommy crossed his arms and let out a light sigh. "I can't believe she's gone. But, I know this is the best thing for her."

"Yeah, and she'll be back before you know it," Avalon agreed. Reaching out, she grabbed onto Tommy's wrist and gently squeezed it. "Then you two will go back to being the sickeningly sweet couple that the rest of us can hardly stand." She laughed as Tommy reached out and messed up her hair. He turned to attention as he heard his parents call their names and saw them at the far end of the corridor where the judge's office was. "Oh, come on. It's time to go in." He stood up and waited for Avalon and Bailey to get up as well before the three went over and joined his parents in the office.

"I see that we're finalizing the adoption today," Judge Croft said once the door was closed and everyone was seated in chairs around him. "This is a very momentous day for you all and I want to be the first to extend my congratulations."

"Thank you," Mrs. Oliver said with a warm smile. "We're all very excited that things have worked out so well. That we can adopt Avalon and Bailey as our own, knowing the different opportunities that will come their way."

"Well, there are a few questions that we need to go through first," Judge Croft said, though he still had his smile on his face. He looked over the papers that rested in front of him. "First is the wellness checks that have been conducted. We have determined that your residence is a great home to bring the girls in. However, there is another place they're currently residing?"

"Uh, yes sir," Mr. Oliver agreed. He sat up straight tin his seat, nervously adjusting his tie. "The Cranstons. David Cranston and his son Billy. Billy is a friend to Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey the girls have been living there since their parent had signed their rights away, placing them in the foster system."

"I see and what are the living arrangements going to be once the adoption is finalized?"

"Well." Mrs. Oliver licked her lips and thought for a moment, resting her hands in her lap. She then reached out and grabbed onto her husband's hand. "Asking the girls what they've wanted, especially after the things they've gone through before, we opted to give them the opportunity to make their own decision on the matter. And they've decided that they will go back and forth between the houses every couple of weeks or so. We have plenty of space for them at our house as well as them not wanting to live a familiar place they've been in for a while."

"Alright, now how will your family adjust to having two new children in the house?"

Tommy took the chance to answer the question. "My Mom and Dad have always talked about adopting another child since I was young, as they've adopted me. But with my constant martial arts training and the work that went into that as well as their own careers, it was never the right time for them to do it. As adoptive parents, I can say that they are the best. I never felt like I wasn't really their son. And I've seen them do the same thing with all of my friends, even going as far as to want to adopt Avalon and Bailey and I can't think of anyone else that would be better for the job."

"Financially, I don't believe it'll be a hardship," Mr. Oliver said. "My son eats enough as it is, so two more mouths to feed won't be any difference. We have a room that is set up for them to share, as well as their own bathroom."

"Also, is there anything you think you should add before the adoption is finalized," Judge Croft said. "Anything you think we should know?"

Tommy, Avalon, and Bailey immediately exchanged glances, all thinking the same thing. They hoped the Olivers didn't say anything about them coming back all battered and bruised after a monster fight in the city. They now knew all of the rangers' parents knew about their identities as being a ranger. But they had to be truthful as well. Especially if there was another check at some point and they might not be able to hide their bruises and scratches. Especially not the fatigue that they exhibited in school time and time again.

"That we believe we've shown we're the right family for these girls," Mrs. Oliver said. "And that we hope that the social worker and everyone's that's been working with us to make it happen, has seen it too."

"Is there anything that you ladies would like to add?" Judge Croft asked, motioning to Avalon and Bailey. The sisters exchanged a glance before nodding lightly and Bailey moved forward. She cleared her throat before lightly grasping onto the edge of the desk, to keep her balance.

"Yes, there is one thing," Bailey remarked. "What's something that we really do like about the Olivers is that they clearly do care about us. And while we're living at the Cranstons, we know that the Olivers and the rest of our friends' parents have done a lot to make sure that things were going well for us. Like Av's birthday, they all celebrated with us and that was great." She took a deep breath. "But what was even better is that they never tried to vilify our Mum and Dad. Though I don't completely understand or agree with the decisions they made, they made it and that's that. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver never tried to make them feel ashamed for what they did, or make us feel ashamed for being stuck between that. "

"And even Tommy has done it so that we didn't think about that, and to remain positive with what we've done since then," Avalon added. "And even them wanting to adopt us in general, just some friends of their son that they know have fallen upon hard time, that's bloody amazing." She lightly shook her head, ponytail bobbing. "Still, our Mum and Dad are still our Mum and Dad and we don't want them to think…well, I guess I don't know what I want them to think but I know that we truly do want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Oliver and Tommy for wanting us to join their family."

"That being said, we want to be able to thank them as well. All of them, because who knows what would've happened if we were still under our Mums' and Dad's custody. We might've been deported or even worse." Bailey cleared her throat once more before turning and smiling to her new brother and new parent. "So…if it'll be approved, we want to change our last name from Mitchell to Oliver-Mitchell to reflect that."

"It was something that Bay and I talked about a lot when we first heard that they wanted to adopt us. They never pressured us into changing out name or into moving or any of that stuff, and we like the idea behind it," Avalon explained. "So if you'll let us do it, we'd like to change our last names."

Judge Croft smiled down at the family in front of them. "I think that can be arranged." He picked up his gavel and smacked it atop his desk.

It was official.


	40. Master Vile

**Chapter 40**

_Master Vile  
_

* * *

The sound of a dull buzzing sound roused Jason out of his slumber. Pressing his hands against the mattress, he pushed himself upwards and stared around his room in confusion. Then he heard the sound again, realizing that his phone was stuffed somewhere in his bed, ringing. Immediately, he was awake and searching through his blankets to find the ringing cell phone, frantically. Kimberly had said she would call once she had gotten settled in and so far there had been radio silence on her end.

Finally, Jason managed to find his phone wedged between his bed frame and the wall. Turning it over in his palm, he expected to see Kimberly's ID come up, or a number with a Florida area code, but what he saw, instead, made him freeze for a moment. Flashing across the face of the screen was the word 'Zack'. Plain and simple. It was something he used to see all the time as he and the 'man with a plan' was always together at some point or another. If not hanging out, they always had each other's backs when it came to their work as power rangers. But since he, Zack, and Trini had all left, moving away from being a ranger, he had completely lost contact with the black ranger. Even calling Mr. and Mrs. Taylor didn't give him any idea of closure of the friendship as they were very guarded with Zack's whereabouts as well.

He was always out doing this or that, hanging out with friends…Jason and the rest of the rangers now knew why Zack had decided that leaving was the best plan of action for himself and his family and had done nothing but have the chance to tell him that.

 _But that had been so long ago…_ Jason took a deep breath and pressed the answer button on his phone before bringing it up to his ear. "Hello?" He asked. There was a lengthy moment of silence, long enough so that Jason was moments away from hanging up before he heard Zack's voice on the phone.

"Hey man," he greeted. It was Zack's normal way of greeting Jason, Billy, or Tommy when he was still around. Normally the statement and his voice were filled with nothing but absolute joy. This time, however, it was flat, almost apologetic. "How's it going?"

"It's going…" Jason trailed off, laughing lightly. Things definitely were going, progressing faster than he could ever imagine. He didn't think he would ever be back in Angel Grove, not so soon anyway. But he had never thought, after taking on the responsibility, he would have ever left it either. "There's so much that's been going on since we left."

"Really?" Now Zack laughed lightly. "Like what?"

"Man, you wouldn't believe the sort of things that have been going on. They have new powers now, powers based off of ninjetti and animal spirits and stuff. But the team has gone through so many changes…Fred's helping us a lot now after they told him we were rangers. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha…they're doing a great job with their powers and their responsibilities. They're probably the best replacements we could have asked for. But that's not all…" And Jason explained everything that had been happening since he left the team; how the rangers had had their zords destroyed, how they had traveled to Phaedos to get their new powers and save Zordon, how they were able to exhibit portions of their animal spirits into their everyday life, how they had met Kat, how things started to slowly spiral down around them, and how Kim had left the team and Kat had taken her place. "It's been a lot to go through, but I think the team can handle it. Tommy'll get them through."

There was another lengthy moment of silence before Zack let out a low whistle. "Dang, man, you think something like this would've happened if we were still around?" Then the two started to laugh loudly, just as they had done before. "Look, I know we haven't been in contact a lot lately and I've been MIA and I want to apologize for it."

"It's alright, I'm sure you had a reason for it….I'm not going to ask you for that reason."

"You're not?"

"No." Jason shook his head then leaned back against his pillows. That was a part of their friendship he had always enjoyed, they hadn't had to worry about explaining anything to each other. Explanations were things that had a means to destroy people rather than pull them together and while he knew that for some it helped out, being honest was something Jason abided by, enough so that explanations were never particularly things he ever had to do. "I trust you, Zack. If you felt there was a good reason for you to distance yourself a little bit, then that's fine. Moving away does that to people sometimes." He then paused, eyebrows furrowing together for a moment. "Have you talked to Trini, recently?"

"I talked to her last night, said some of the same things I'm saying to you," Zack said. "I've been through a bunch of stuff while I've been out here and I really wanted to apologize for not being there for you or the rest of the rangers."

"We know why you left," Jason added.

"And you know why I've distanced myself, I couldn't have anyone get in trouble for what I was did," Zack said, almost earnestly. He let out a long breath. "You and Kim had already been targeted by those guys and Av was stuck as that put her and Bay and the rest of you guys into constant danger while things were, sort of falling apart around us. I couldn't handle the thought of that, I was fed up of not being able to do anything, so I morphed in front of them and beat them up. I broke the ranger rules, I know Zordon understands why, but the rules are the rules."

A snort escaped Jason's lips. "Do you have any idea how many people now know our identities? I mean, they figured it out or we had no choice but to morph in front of them rather than allow them to stay in trouble. Man, our parents even know! It literally is the worst kept secret we've ever had in our entire lives!"

"Really? Nah, man, you have to be joking. Who else knows?

"You're not going to believe it."

"Try me."

"Bulk and Skull."

There was a light choking sound then Jason grinned as he heard Zack's hysterical laughter. Jason grinned as he waited for Zack to calm down. It was good to hear the former black ranger to sound like his former self; it was good to hear him in general. "Really? That's crazy. I never thought Bulk and Skull would actually manage to figure that stuff out. It just goes to show you that when it comes to saving the world, there's a lot more at stake than we originally thought."

"Yeah…" Jason's mind shifted towards Kimberly and the disease she was now going to work hard to get through.

There _was_ a lot more at stake and now he realized how hard all of it had to be. It was already tough on him, knowing the secrets he was keeping from his parents as he went off to fight off the putties and whatever monster that had been released at the moment. After getting jumped by the Vipers he had started taking steroids so that he could be stronger, strong enough to stop Rita, strong enough to stand his ground lest something like that happened again, strong enough so that they wouldn't be defeated again.

While initially surprised and heartbroken over Kimberly's disease and seeing how bad she had gotten, he also wasn't completely surprised. He and the rangers were…soldiers in a way, something he had realized fairly quickly once he had left with his mother and father to visit his Uncle, and they were going to get PTSD in some way, shape, or form. It was good they were all seeing it now and could handle it when it came up later.

"But we've had a lot of great times with it," Jason continued. "A lot of my greatest memories will be from it."

"Yeah," Zack agreed. "Yeah, me too." There was a sudden sound, as if he had sniffed loudly, trying to hold back his emotions, then the former ranger's voice was firm once more. "Look, I have to get going, but I really just wanted to apologize and tell you that you're still my boy. Whatever you need, I'll always have your back."

"You too, man. You too."

"Later."

"See ya."

Jason hung up the phone and looked down at the screen for a moment before bringing up Trini's number and calling it. The phone rang for a few moments before she picked up, greeting him with her typical sunny disposition. "Hey Jason, how are you? We haven't talked in a while! How are things in Angel Grove?"

"I see you're in a good mood, Trini," Jason remarked. "It sounds like you're having a good time wherever you are." He laughed, running a hand through his hair, hearing her laugh on the other hand as well. "Let me run through your list of questions. I'm very well at the moment, though it is kind of late and Zack calling me woke me up. I know, we haven't talked in a while; a lot of things have been going on over here. Did you get my last email?"

"I haven't checked my email for a couple of days, I've been busy in school," Trini explained. "I've enrolled and…it's so much fun, but sort of hard. My parents never spoke it fluently around me and even my relatives do it every now and then, but not enough so that I can follow them completely. So it's a great experience to have."

"Geez, Trini, should I be worried that you're never going to come back?"

"I'll come back, Jason, don't worry. But I'm really loving it out here, I'm glad I took this opportunity. But I miss you guys, you know that." Jason could hear the sound of voices in the background of her call and guessed she was at some sort of a market. "What did the email say? I've only gotten to the last one." Jason explained their latest change up after Kimberly had left. "I'm glad Kimberly has gotten the help she needs. I just wished that we had been able to see it sooner."

"If that were the case, they might not have been able to defeat Rita's and Zedd's latest trap of how Kat was attacking them," Jason pointed out. "They might not have had the man power, if there was no one for Kim to give her powers to. It was hard enough she had to be separated from them, I think that's what made her disorder worse."

"I see your point," Trini agreed. "But it's not worth thinking about now. Everything happens for a reason though I don't think any of us would've seen that coming." He could practically see her run her hand through the ends of her hair, her almost nervous habit. It was always something she did absentmindedly, playing with her hair. "It sounds like everything is going well with you guys, otherwise."

"Now that those things have been worked out, yeah."

Trini made a low humming sound under her breath before she went to a quieter area, giving them more privacy as they continued to speak. "There's something bothering you, Jason, I can tell. I know that your role on the team has changed a bit since you've been gone, but you're doing a good thing now that you're back. You're helping them in a different way that's just as important, we needed someone that we could've told our secret to, to help come up with an alibi or something, so that those that suddenly became targets wasn't all for nothing."

Jason chuckled, scratching his forehead. "You know, you always seem to have a sort of knack for know when one of us are dealing with stuff."

"If that were the case, then I'd be able to help more." The former yellow ranger sounded a bit wistful but she bounced back very quickly. "It's like I said, you always care about so many other people and want to help in any way you can. Don't let it get you down when things aren't going the way you want. Things will fall into place. I promise."

"Thanks, Trini."

"You're welcome, Jase. I'll let you go back to sleep. I'll definitely be sure to get to your email. Oh! And I'm going to be sending you guys a care package filled with all of these really cool things I've found around here. Like different candies and snacks and stuff. I can't wait for you to see them."

Jason couldn't help but laugh again, her disposition was infectious. "I'll catch up with you later, Trini. Bye."

"Bye, Jase."

Jason hung up his phone and leaned over, placing it on his desk next to him before rolling back onto his bed, bringing his covers up over his shoulder. He fell asleep within a few minutes, feeling calmer than he had in a while.

* * *

Kat let out a grunt of pain as she fell landed on the practice mats on her back, nearly knocking the wind out of her. She rolled onto her side and brushed her hair back from her face as Rocky reached his hand out towards her. She looked up into his face, seeing his kind smile, and smiled shyly as she took it and allowed herself to be pulled back up to her feet.

"Thanks." She brushed her hair behind her ears once more, something she always did when she was nervous, and wiped her sweaty hands off on the sides of her workout pants. "I guess I'm not doing a very good job."

"You're doing fine for your first work with martial arts," Rocky reassured her. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, it's not like we're trying to put you into a world championship or something." He crossed his arms over his chest as he regarded her. "Besides, you're new to all of this in general. We can't expect that you would be able to get it within a few minutes."

Adam, who stood on Kat's other side with a punching mat strapped to his hand, nodded in agreement. "Rocky and I had been studying martial arts for a while and we struggled when it was our first fight against monsters."

"I know, but…" Kat simply shrugged her shoulders before taking a few steps back so that she could follow Rocky's lead in a series of punches and kicks. She went through them halfheartedly, already having her spirit broken the last time she hit the mat. Probably the hundredth time within the last hour.

Why did she even think it was a good idea? She hadn't done any fighting ever, even the fights when she was underneath Rita's control weren't her own fighting. She managed to get turned into a cat monster, something she wondered if it was still possible, and the cat-like instincts took over for that. She had never been in a fight in her entire life and now… _I bet Kim and the others managed to get this stuff really quickly. Maybe I'm not meant to be a ranger._ She had been so into her thoughts that she managed to slip when doing a high kick and fell to the ground once more. With a sigh, Kat pulled herself back to her feet and started to move off of the mat. "Why don't we just take a break, guys? I don't think I'm getting this."

"It's going to take some practice, but you'll get it," Rocky reassured her.

"But we don't have time, yeah?" Kat walked over to the table that was surrounded by the rest of the rangers and sat down with them. With a light sigh, she rested her arms on the table then leaned forward and placed her chin on it afterwards. "Rita is going to want to get revenge on me for having broken out from underneath her rule. She's going to come after me and if I can't defend myself—"

"You didn't really have a problem with that when you were under her spell," Avalon pointed out, tapping her pen against her notebook. Jason gave her a disapproving look and she shrugged in reply. "I'm just saying what we were all thinking. I mean, it is kind of weird, isn't it? It's like her magic suddenly gave her that ability."

"It's possible," Tommy pointed out; matching Jason's disapproving glance to his sister. "When I was under Rita's spell the things I could already do was enhanced. Rita wouldn't take her if there was some sort of added…things he could put to it. It's like how they make their monsters out of inanimate objects."

"He's got a point," Aisha pointed out. "There's always something that Rita and Zedd are up to. They even had her attack the Youth Center just to try and lure us out." She tilted her head to the side, her braids swinging as she did so. "They're not above using whatever means they can to have us destroyed."

"I guess you're right," Kat agree. She let out a light sigh, blowing her hair off her forehead then shifted her blue eyes around the table. It was like the red ranger had said, he, Adam, and Aisha had been in the same position she had been before and they were doing a good job with the rangers. They helped free her from Rita and Zedd and she had the power of the ninjetti now. "I don't know, I guess I just don't really feel like I deserve to have these powers."

Jason reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Kat. When Billy and I first started we didn't think we deserved it either. There had to be someone else that could take our powers and do some good. Why would Zordon want a bunch of teenagers?" He tightened his grip on her shoulder. "But we managed to work through all of our worries and become a great team and you will, too."

Kat smiled and nodded. They were right; she had to give herself some time to tap into her full potential. That was all, not else to worry about. If she didn't have something she could bring to the rangers, Kimberly wouldn't have brought her to the team. _Just think about her, Kat,_ she thought, bringing her hand over to her communicator and resting her hand atop it. _Think about Kimberly and how much faith she has in you. You can do this._ The pink ranger lifted her head and started to say something else, but was cut off by the sound of their communicators going off.

"Looks like they're not wasting any time to get back at her," Adam remarked as the rangers looked around and pushed themselves away from their seats, heading towards the hallway that led to the locker room.

"Looks like it," Billy agreed. "Or else they have something else up their sleeves. Nevertheless we'll figure it out once we get there."

Tommy nodded in agreement. He huddled his friends around him before looking back and forth, taking stock one more time. Kat looked up at him, watching as he brought his communicator up to his mouth and pressed a button on the side. Kat's heart leapt into her throat and an anxious warmth spread over her skin. This was it; it was the first time she was going to fight as a ranger. "What's going on, Zordon? Are Rita and Zedd up to their tricks again?"

"It seems like it, Tommy," Zordon replied. "They've unleashed a flurry of Tengas into the park. So far there aren't any other monsters with them, but you need to stay on your guard in case there's some sort of plan to capture you all. Or worse, to bring Kat back into their clutches."

Tommy looked down at Kat before nodding firmly. "Well, we're not going to let that happen, we're on our way."

"I'll contact Bailey and let her know what's going on," Alpha agreed. "Maybe she can help us out in the Command Center, to see if we can find a power source of another monster. We'll teleport you to the Tengas directly."

"You got it." Tommy lowered his hands and took stock of his friends before they all fell into their familiar stance. "Ninja Ranger Power, now!" The rangers all morphed and were teleported down to the Tengas, as they flocked around and knocked over a farmer's market. Fruits and Vegetables rolled across the ground as the Tengas continued to knock over every stall they could get their hands on.

Kat landed on the ground in a crouched position then stood up, looking down at her pink gloved hands. Then she looked down at her ninjetti gi, sinning in a quick circle as she took stock of her new outfit. A smile stretched across her face underneath her mask as she felt strength of her power surge through her body. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. "Wow, I never knew what all of this power really felt like!" She looked up just as a group of Tengas flocked around her. They shuffled to the side, spinning around her as they squawked and cawed, flapping their arms up and down. "Okay bird brains; you're not going to get away with this!"

"Oh look, this little girlie thinks turning to the other side means she's a good person," One of the Tengas remarked before launching its head forward and pecking her on the arm. Kat cried out in pain and grabbed at the spot, feeling the rip in the cloth and blood seep through her fingers.

"Being a power ranger doesn't mean anything," another Tenga added. It flapped its arms and took off up into the air, then moved forward and struck Kat in the chest with its feet, sending her backwards.

"Back off!" Kat cried, falling down to one knee.

"Looks like we've got her now!"

"Get her!"

Kat looked through the legs of the Tengas as they moved closer to her and spotted her friends all fighting their own groups of Tengas as they continued to wreak havoc on the Farmer's Market. Clenching her hands into fists, she got back to her feet. "We'll just see about that." She brought her hands together, palms pressed flushed against each other. She then dropped all of her fingers except her thumbs and index fingers. "See ya!" Concentrating hard, she tapped into the power of the ninjetti and used it to, quick as lightning; move out from the middle of the circle of Tengas. She laughed as they leapt towards the now empty space and crashed into each other.

"Ow!" A Tenga grabbed onto its forehead. "How did she do that?"

"She's not going to do it again?"

"We'll just see about that!" With that, Kat leapt forward and started to fight the Tengas as hard as she could. She dodged, ducked, and weaved out of the way of the Tengas as they shot around her, but held her own the best she could. To move out of the way of a flying wing, Kat flung herself across the back of another Tenga then grabbed onto its wings. Gritting her teeth together, she spun in a quick circle and let go of the Tenga, bowling it over onto the ground.

Kat raced a few steps forward and leapt high, sticking out her foot. She landed the hard kick on the Tenga and it fell to the ground before Kat turned and aimed a punch at another Tenga. The Tenga grabbed onto her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. Crying out in pain, Kat found herself pulled against the front of the Tenga and had its arm wrapped around her neck, pulling as hard as it could. Gasping for air Kat brought her hands up to her neck, hoping to knock the Tenga off of her as the others continued to try and get off the ground. All of a sudden, there was a flurry of commotion and Kat found herself stumbling forward, coughing hard. Turning around, she found Rocky and Billy taking down the rest of the Tengas that had been attacking her while the rest of the rangers hurried over.

"Are you okay?" Aisha reached out and grabbed onto Kat's hand, pulling her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kat replied. She looked around to see Billy drive off the last of the Tengas before pulling off her mask, the others doing the same. "What did they want? It doesn't look like they stuck around or anything."

"You're right," Avalon agreed. "There's nothing they were actually going after around here." The orange ninja ranger lifted her foot and peeled off a vine of squished grapes. "Unless they wanted a recipe to make a bloody fruit salad."

"A bloody—"

"We don't have time to explain that, Rocko," Adam interrupted. He looked over at Billy and nodded. "Let's see what Zordon, Alpha, Fred, and Bailey have to say."

"Good idea." Billy took the lead of powering down from his ninjetti outfit, the others doing the same, and then brought his communicator up to his mouth. "Zordon, Alpha, come in. The Tengas are all gone, but there doesn't seem to be any other monsters around."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," Fred replied, sounding a bit hesitant.

"Guys, this is big, something we've never faced before," Bailey added. She took a deep breath. "I think you should come back here so Zordon and Alpha can explain it to you guys."

* * *

Rita had been lounging on her throne, waving a hand towards the servant that fanned her with a giant palm frond. The servant could barely keep his head up, it lolled back and forth every few seconds as he threatened to keel over. Every now and then he would start to stumble, but would quickly shift his feet so that he caught his balance once more. "That's all of the air I need today," she sat up straight, turning back towards him. "The next time you think of trying to escape, I won't make it so easy for you. You're dead on your feet."

With a cruel smile, she reached out a hand and pushed on the servant's chest, causing it to fall over onto the ground. The servant curled up into a ball, closing its eyes as he passed out. The first time in four days the servant had been able to sleep. Sleep deprivation had grown to be one of her favorite kinds of torture that didn't inflict massive amounts of pain on the victim; the psychological pain was much more impressive. She pushed herself up off of her throne and went over to Zedd's draping her arm around the top of his arm.

"Zeddy, what do you think we should do next? All of this waiting is starting to get boring."

"Patience, my dear, he should be here in a few minutes," he growled back, reaching out his hand and rested it on hers. His skeletal fingers patted against her hand as he turned his towards her. "Patience." Rita grinned then leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss before straightening herself. Catching sight of Goldar as he came through the doorway, she scowled.

"What do you want?" She spat. "We're busy."

"My liege, I wanted to tell you that—"Goldar didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Rito charged into the room after the golden monster, knocking him out of the way.

"He's here!" He cried, waving his sword into the air. He then turned and pointed the tip of that sword over towards the doorway to the room. "He's here!" Rita moved away from Zedd and her husband put his arm around her shoulders.

A grin stretched across Rita's face as their guest walked through the doorway of the room. His presence had managed to fill the room as it always did when he was around. Rita looked over at Zedd and caught that familiar gleam in his eyes, the gleam that let her know that this was going to be the plan that would finally destroy the rangers. This time, however, she agreed with him.

Taking in a deep breath, Rita turned back towards her guest and walked over to Rito, standing beside her brother. They looked at each other before turning back to the guest once more. "It's good to see you, father," Rita greeted him.

"What's up, pops?" Rito added.

Master Vile smiled down at his son and daughter before looking around the lair of the Lunar Palace. This was going to suit him just fine.


	41. Arsenal

**Chapter 41**

_Arsenal_

* * *

The rangers arrived at the Command Center to chaos. The room had darkened; lights that normally illuminated the floor strobed as the seconds passed. Then there were sudden bright flashes of light, as if lightning was being expelled throughout the rangers' headquarters, causing them to wince and shield their faces every now and then. Once their eyes adjusted to the changing lights, the rangers turned towards Zordon and Alpha. Bailey and Fred raced back and forth from control panel to computer. They watched the young teens for a few moments before Tommy took a step forward. "Zordon, what's going on?"

"Yeah, what's with the light show?" Rocky added. "I think I was nearly blinded when we got here?"

"And why are those two running around like chooks with their heads cut off?" Receiving silence in response, the orange ranger threw her hands into the air. "Okay, there are now three Australians that are part of this team, you guys need to catch up with our use of slang."

"Rangers, I'm afraid this is something that is more serious than anything you've ever faced," Zordon said. "As you can see, our power source had been comprised as you arrived. And the only one able to do something like that is someone with a supreme amount of power."

"Please don't tell me that Ivan somehow survived that attack," Adam said with a light shake of his head. "I thought it was too easy."

"No, it's not Ivan," Alpha commented. His gaze was tilted to the floor, as if he had just been reprimanded by his mother. "It's someone much more evil than anything you've ever faced. Zordon isn't kidding when he said that. The evil presence is the worst thing that's ever come around since Rita and Zedd both arrived on the Moon."

"What sort of evil presence is it, Zordon?" Tommy asked. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to keep his composure, though his anxiety was already starting to churn at his stomach.

"Master Ville, Rita's and Rito's father has made his appearance on the Moon," Zordon explained. "He is very dangerous, conquering numerous galaxies so far. It appears that he has come to our galaxy to take over the Earth, just as Rita and Zedd have tried to do since they've arrived. He will be a much tougher enemy to defeat and we do not want you to fall to his power."

"Do we know if there's any possible way to stop him before he starts?" Aisha asked, "Maybe go to the Lunar Palace and keep him from getting to us?" She tilted her head to the side and let out a light sigh of frustration. Turning on her heel, she started to pace back and forth. "Unbelievable, it's like we can't go a day without having _something_ happen. Can't we ever get a day off for once?"

"If that were the case, we wouldn't be rangers," Kat pointed out.

Billy let out a light humming sound. There were a million reasons they were rangers, mostly being that they were destined to be in one way or another. That's what he believed anyway, that there was something each of them had that caused them to take on the powers. But how much longer could they believe that if there was always going to be someone out there who was stronger, pushing them to their limit… _Maybe getting the opportunity to destroy us once and for all?_

He turned his attention back towards Bailey and Fred, who seemed to slow down their movements. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Fred declared. "We're just making sure that we can finish…yes!" There was a light beeping sound and he turned before slapping a high-five with Bailey. "We just finished something that we think will at least impede the potential destruction that's going to come our way."

Bailey started to wave her hands around as she explained. "You see, Fred and I have been working on this for a while but we've now had to rush order them." She pressed her hand on the control panel directly beside her before motioning to the rising wall on the other side of the Command Center. The rangers turned at the source of the sound and watched as fog and flashing lights spilled out into the room as eight motorcycles moved out into the open area.

"Whoa!" Rocky cried and hurried over to the red bike. He reached out and ran his hand along the frame, a bright grin sliding across his face. "This is awesome!" Tommy, Billy, Kat, Avalon, Adam, and Aisha hurried over to their own colored bikes as well. They each appreciatively ran their hands along the frames of their bikes, taking note of the shapes of the bikes.

"I'm glad you like it," Bailey said with a light laugh. She looped her arm through Fred's before the two of them walked over to the rangers. "We call them the Shark Cycles, created from the fossilized bone of a prehistoric shark. Like the shark they're swift and power, with the spirit of the great shark within them. But they're like any other bike where you have to be careful when you're on them. If you're not used to this much power, then you can do more damage to yourself than to anyone else."

"It should come in handy when trying to fend off the Tengas, especially with how easily they flock around," Fred added. He glanced down at Bailey, who nodded in agreement, before turning his attention back to the rangers. "But they also have different abilities on them such as missiles coming from the back fins as well as lasers from the eyes and the snout." He unhooked his arm from Bailey's and walked around the bike that was nearest to him, Aisha's. "Like we said, we were working on them for a while and didn't think we'd need them so soon. So if there's anything that happens while you're out on them, let us know so we can get them fixed as quickly as possible."

"No worries," Kat said to them, straddling the seat of her bike. She leaned forward and grabbed onto the handlebars, as if to test out the bike. She leaned back and forth a few times before swinging her legs to the side, sitting sideways in her seat. "I don't know, I don't even have my California license yet, I don't think I can drive one of these."

"Knowing these two, they probably made it so that our bikes would be able to drive for us," Adam remarked. He turned from his bike and gave Fred and Bailey an approving smile and nod. "Great job, you two, this is definitely something that can help us."

"The more arsenal we have under our belts, the more we have to go up against Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile," Avalon added.

"I'm afraid not," Alpha said, speaking up for the first time since the rangers had arrived. His solemn tone caused the rangers to exchange glances before turning towards him and walked back over. Zordon looked down at his partner, staying silent as he explained. "They're going after the Zeo Crystal."

The silence that followed afterwards showed how serious the conversation topic was. Whatever the Zeo Crystal was, it was something that was either very dangerous or very powerful. Of which, either would be bad consequences depending on who was the one that had decided to take on whatever power the crystal could create. Zordon and Alpha were very aware of the sort of power the Zeo Crystal could hold if Master Vile and the forces of evil managed to get their hands on it. But if the rangers were…then they'd have a chance of saving their universe once and for all. Not just Earth, but the entire universe as they knew it.

After long moments of silence, Avalon raised a hand into the air. "Okay, I'll bite," she said with a light air of amusement to her tone. "What's a Zeo Crystal?"

Alpha brought his hands up to his forehead, letting out a quiet 'ay yi yi' as he paced back and forth. Finally, he brought his hands down to his sides and started to speak in a subdued tone, much like the one he had when Zordon was dying after Ivan's attack on the Command Center. This time, however, the deaths that would come from the Zeo Crystal falling into the wrong hands would be catastrophic. A true tragedy. "It's one of the most powerful sources in any of the galaxies."

"Thousands of years ago the people of Galaxy M-51 hid the Zeo Crystal from Master Vile deep inside the caves of deception," Zordon explained, relieving Alpha from the explanation. "Once the Zeo Crystal was placed in an area they knew to be carefully guarded, they placed a force field around the crystal. The force field made it so that anyone who does not possess a pure heart cannot come into contact with nor come near the crystal. Zedd had tried to get to the Zeo Crystal once before and that has resulted in what he looks like today."

"You're telling me that he actually had a face before it was, what, blown off or something?" Rocky asked, his nose wrinkling.

The yellow ninja ranger made a face of disgust and turned her head away. "Ugh! Not an image I needed to see, Rocky. Not an image I needed to see. Next time, please your comments to yourself."

"Sorry."

"You're saying that they're all after the Zeo Crystal," Tommy commented, moving to the front of the group. He tightened his grip of his crossed arms. "Then we have to find a way to get there first!"

"Do you know where it is?" Bailey pointed out. "I mean, going after monsters when they come on Earth is one thing. They're coming onto our territory. But traveling out there somewhere and not knowing where to even start looking isn't the best means of a plan, yeah?"

"She's got a point," Billy agreed. "When we went to Phaedos, we had an idea of where we were going and why. We knew there was something out there that was going to help us. We don't even have an idea of where to start looking on this one. It's not like we can just jump from plane to planet, not knowing if we can even breathe or survive on them, hoping to find a needle in a haystack."

Avalon silently pointed to her boyfriend in agreement.

"I'm afraid to report that the Zeo Crystal is on the moon itself, directly under the Lunar Palace. The Palace used to be a place where good resided, but since Rita and Zedd have taken control over the place; their evil has corrupted the good. However, the evil cannot get through the force field of the Zeo Crystal as Rita and Zedd cannot get through the force field either. We thought the Crystal would be safe there, that there wouldn't be a time where the forces of evil would try to get to it." Zordon closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were filled with renewed vigor. "But now Master Ville is with them, and he's much stronger than Rita and Zedd in the ways of evil and darkness. We may already be too late."

"The Crystal's power increases with time," Alpha concluded. "If he gets the Zeo Crystal, he'll destroy the entire universe."

"Then we need to be sure that we're going to get there first," Rocky said. "We can't allow them to get to it. Not without a fight."

"But it's on the Lunar Palace," Avalon pointed out. "As in, directly underneath it. I'm not sure about you lot, but I don't think digging a hole to get there is going to be the best way to get to it. Especially if they catch us before hand." The bitterness of her tone immediately caught the rest of the rangers' attention and she shuffled her feet, turning her gaze towards the floor before looking each of them in the face. "What?" She snapped. "It's not like it's going to make a difference whether or not we go after this thing, I probably can't use it anyway?

"What are you talking about, Av?" Tommy asked, exchanging a look with Billy. "Of course you'd be able to get the Zeo Crystal. We all have to work together to be sure Rita and Zedd don't get a hold of it."

"Did you hear the part where they mentioned that the only ones who can get through the force field are the ones that are pure of heart?" With a light laugh, she turned her head to the side, allowing her hair to fall over her face, masking her expression. "I don't think an ex-gang member is really going to fall under that category."

"Don't be like that, Av," Bailey said to her.

"Like what? I'm just telling the truth. And I'm sure you were all thinking it." Taking one last glance at her friends, the orange ninja ranger shook her head and turned on her heel, slowly walking out of the Command Center, her boots clomping on the ground as she went. The other rangers watched as she walked out of the center, disappearing around the corner.

"Ay yi yi yi yi! What about Avalon, Zordon?" Alpha turned back to his friend. "We're not going to stand a chance without all of the rangers. Not with Master Vile going after the Zeo Crystal."

"Give her time, Alpha, it's as we said already, this is a confusing time for everyone," Zordon reassured him. "We all must hope that she realizes that's been given her and that she'll respect the power as well as aid the other rangers in their battle against Rita."

"You can count on us, Zordon," Billy said. "Don't worry."

* * *

Avalon teleported as soon as she stepped outside of the Command Center, landing at the corner of her street. She glanced at her watch, realizing there was still time for her to get to work; she headed towards the Cranston house to get her work uniform. She only made it a few steps down the street before a cold chill rolled down her back, causing her to slow in her movements.

Turning around, she let out a light sigh, almost a growl, when she noticed Summer and Skye slowly converging upon her from opposite sides of the street. "What do you lot want this time?" She called, continuing to hold her stance. Her dark eyes shifted back and forth between her former gang members, waiting for some sort of signal from either of them. Anything that would answer her silent questions.

Skye continued to glance at her before he glanced around the street corner, checking to see if anyone was watching. She followed his gaze. No cop cars, no under covers, it looked like the coast was clear. That was not good for her. Avalon started to move her hand into her jeans pockets, to retrieve the switchblade she always had on her, but Summer got to her first. She darted forward and knocked the orange ninja ranger's hand out of her pocket and followed up with a swift, hard kick to the stomach. Avalon doubled over from the pain, making herself vulnerable to Skye, who took his chance to deliver an uppercut to her face.

He then grabbed onto her collar of her shirt, lifted her up, and flung her as hard as he could. Her arms and legs flailed as she soared through the air and landed hard on the ground. Her head lolled to the side as she watched Summer and Skye approach her.

Thankfully, due to the strength of Skye's punch combined with how caught off guard she was, she was knocked out before they reached her.


	42. The Calm Before The Storm

* * *

**Chapter 42**

_The Calm Before the Storm_

* * *

Trudging along the sidewalk, Adam shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. Even as he moved along with the crowd of those that took advantage of the warm Angel Grove weather, he couldn't appreciate it as much as the others who were clearly happier than he was. There wasn't much for him to be happy about, honestly.

There was too much to think about; Master Vile, the Zeo Crystal, wondering how long it would be before the Earth actually was destroyed and they weren't strong enough to stop it. What was the point anymore if there was always something that was going to keep them from getting stronger? _Our ninja powers were supposed to make it so that we were easier to keep Rita and Zedd from finishing their plan. But if there's someone else that's even stronger than us, how are we sure we'd be able to finish them off when we don't even know if we can even touch the Zeo Crystals._

The black ranger was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice someone calling his name, or the person stepping in front of him until he bumped into them, sending the person to the ground. Eyes flying open, Adam took a step back before reaching out a hand to help the person up. He paused, eyebrows rising when he saw that Sabrina was lying on the ground in front of him. He then grabbed onto her hand and pulled to her feet.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't see you there; I guess I was just…so busy thinking about…stuff…" he trailed off as Sabrina stood in front of him, listening quietly. "What are you doing here?" He finally managed to get the question out of his mouth, the one he had hoped to be able to ask if he ever got the chance to see her again. She had left so quickly after getting out of captivity from Rita and Zedd. "When…when did you get back?"

"We're visiting some of our family out here and there were some more things we had to get from storage," Sabrina explained. "Actually, Adam, I wanted to see you…to talk to you. I've been looking around all day; your parents didn't know where you went. I tried the Youth Center but no one was there…" She gently shook her head. "I'm sorry about what happened, there was just so much stuff and the whole Scorpina thing…"

"You don't have to…" Adam brought up his hands and held them out, palms facing up. He wasn't even sure how to finish his sentence. She didn't have to what? Explain? Tell him anything? What was there to be told, she and Scorpina were separated and she—rightfully—left all of that behind. Now that Master Vile was around…what were they supposed to do? Would she be pushed together with Scorpina again—whom he realized they hadn't seen the female gold monster either. "I'm sorry, I don't really know what to say," he admitted.

"I know the feeling," Sabrina agreed. She took a deep breath. "But there is one thing that I've wanted to say for a long time and I have to say it. I'm sorry for the way I left and I'm sorry for not getting into contact with you. It was just really hard, knowing what surrounded you all the time. Knowing there was only a few minutes that we would be able to have together before there was a monster attack." She tilted her head back. "And even then, I know it was a big sacrifice for you, but I couldn't shake what happened. Knowing that there was a chance at any moment I could lose control and hurt you guys. Even after having been captured by those guys and separated from her I was still afraid there'd be a way that we'd come back together or I took on her powers or something. I had to stay away."

"I guess I can understand that," Adam agreed. He turned his gaze to the ground as he nodded, hoping to keep Sabrina from noticing the anxious expression on his face. What she was saying to him should've been the best thing he could hear, to finally get answers to the questions he had longed for. But that wasn't going to change anything. "I'm not mad at you…I guess I was just…sort of disappointed." He started walking again and Sabrina fell in step beside him. "Everyone else has seemed to pair up a bit around here; Tommy and Kim, Billy and Avalon, Fred and Bailey, Rocky and Aisha…so I guess I felt kind of lonely. Adding in the fact that our zords had been destroyed, we thought Zordon had died, and we had to travel to a different planet to get powers that we didn't even know existed to try and save the world. Now, as it has been with everything else, there's someone else we that's come out of the woodwork we have to go against."

"I can't say I can sympathize," Sabrina admitted. She reached out and rested her hand against the black ninja ranger's arm. "All I can say, again, is that I'm sorry. And I hope you can forgive me."

"I know." Adam turned and smiled at her. "And it's okay. We're…working through everything and things are getting better, I guess." He paused, a half smile sliding onto his face. "Well, not exactly…" he explained to her about the times he had done his ranger duties while he was drunk and Sabrina gazed at him in confusion and low level horror. "I know, it wasn't the best decision I've ever made…but it helped at the time. Where I didn't feel so alone, I guess."

"But you're not alone; you have your whole team of friends to help you out whenever you need it," Sabrina pointed out. "Even if they seemed to have paired up, you, Rocky, and Aisha have a bond the rest won't have because you all fell into being rangers at the same time, moved from Stone Canyon at the same time, and had to learn how to get to speed about being a ranger. That's something that will keep you bonded forever. Don't sell yourself short, Adam. I never did."

Adam smiled to himself, turning his almost bashful gaze to the ground. There were so many times he could be told by Zordon or Alpha that he and the rest of the rangers were doing a good job, however it wasn't until it was said by someone else outside of what they were doing that it held any weight. Besides, how many times could they fight Tengas and drive them off before they realize they did or did not have the ability to defeat everything that came their way? If it weren't for the potential Zeo Crystals, not that they had any ideas where it could be, they probably would have been destroyed by the second. And as it is they didn't know what Master Vile was capable of.

If it was as bad as Zordon and Alpha implied, then they were in trouble.

But for the moment, Adam didn't really care.

He was just glad there was someone to finally listen to his concerns.

* * *

Aisha let out a low sigh as she turned the sheet of paper in her hand, twisting it back and forth. Not that she wasn't excited to have gotten the information about the student that was going to be coming from Africa to experience an American high school for the year, but she had applied to the program when she was in Stone Canyon, before becoming a ranger. Before all of this…stuff came up. She couldn't leave now. She couldn't let anyone down.

Still, it was the only chance she would ever get to go to Africa, to experience life there, to understand more about her roots and her familial background. It was the worst time for her dream to come true, when Master Vile showed his face and there was now a race to get to the Zeo Crystals. They had just lost Kimberly and now she was going to leave the team, too? Would they find a replacement for her and within that, how would the team be able to get through another of their group leaving so quickly after the other? Kimberly's departure had caused so much sadness to ripple through the team; it would kill her to have to do the same.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Aisha twisted around in time to find her mother push the door open. With a smile, the yellow ninja ranger looked up at her mother, holding onto the papers from her program. "I got the information, Mom," she said. "Tanya should be here tomorrow and will hang around the school with me for about a month or so…and then I'll be going to Africa."

"Actually, sweetie, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Mrs. Campbell said with an amused smile. "It seems that she was able to get out here sooner than we expected. She's downstairs."

"What?" Aisha sat up straight as soon as the words registered with her. _Tanya's downstairs?_ That meant things were moving a lot faster than she had originally anticipated. That meant the reality of her leaving Angel Grove was coming up a lost faster than she had originally anticipated. Things were getting more real than she already thought it would be. "Okay. Great!" She got up from her bed and placed the papers onto her desk. She then turned back to her mother before starting to pace back and forth across the floor. "Wow, I just…now I'm so nervous."

"Nervous?" Mrs. Campbell let out a light laugh. "What are you so nervous about, Aisha?"

"Meeting her! I want to make a good impression. I don't want to make her think anything wrong about Americans or something like that. What if I say something stupid?"

"Well, you can't say anything at all unless you go downstairs."

Aisha caught her mother's eye and laughed as she let out a low sigh, relaxing her muscles and her body in its entirety. Her mother was right; there was nothing to freak out about, not yet. Not when things hadn't been finalized. And besides, Tanya had made the trip all the way from her home in Africa to California, so she had be a good hostess to her. Angel Grove was a great place to live as she had learned from her own experiences of moving from Stone Canyon. But she was moving into a new sense of responsibility so she didn't pay as much attention to the new city as she was about her new powers.

"You're right," she agreed. "Let's go." She went over to her mother and kissed her mother on the cheek and slipped by her. She headed downstairs and found her father in deep conversation with an African girl. She was dressed in a way Aisha sort of expected, trendy but holding a cultural different in the way she carried herself. Even as Tanya turned towards Aisha, her exotic features caught her by surprise. "Hi, Tanya, I'm Aisha Campbell." She held out her hand towards Tanya as she stood up to greet her. "It's great to meet you."

"Hi! Aisha, I'm Tanya Sloan." Tanya shook her hand firmly before lightly bopping herself on her forehead. "I guess you already knew that, I mean, you got my papers and everything. It's so great to be here, I was just talking to your father about things here and Angel Grove seems like a great place to live."

"Minus the monsters," Mrs. Campbell remarked.

"Oh, Tanya, this is my mother." Aisha moved out of the way so her mother could move forward and get the chance to greet Tanya as well. "And, she's right about the monsters. They can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but the power rangers always come to help us out. Besides, we've got a great evacuation plan so people are always safe."

"Well, I don't doubt it's anything unlike the mysterious creatures and things we have back in Africa," Tanya said, her bright smile infallible. "I'm not sure I believe in them much, but my grandmother is always talking about evil spirits and spells, and mystic things like that. She always does a lot cleanses and stuff. Some of her artifacts are really cool; I brought some along if you would like to see them." She started to reach into the satchel that rested against her hip, held around her neck by a thing cord.

"I'm sure all of that is great, Tanya, but wouldn't you like to get some sleep, I'm sure the flight was very long and tiring," Mr. Campbell said. "Wouldn't you like to head up to the guest room to get some sleep?"

"Actually, I am feeling a little tired," Tanya agreed. "I guess I just didn't realize it because I was so excited to get here and meet everyone. And you're all so nice! I can't imagine any of my insecurities coming through. The directors of the program at my school said that they went through a lot of applications and thought you were the best candidates. I think they were right. I've only been in the United States for a few hours, but I already feel like I've been here forever."

Now Aisha was grinning. If things were going this well, she was bound to have a great time while in Africa. Pushing aside the fresh wave of guilt that continued to wash over her whenever she thought of leaving the team, Aisha took a step forward and held out her hand towards Tanya. "C'mon, I'll show you where you'll be staying. It's just down the hall from my room and has its own bathroom."

"You don't have to go to through all that trouble," Tanya said as she took Aisha's hand and allowed herself to be taken out of the living room. "I don't mind sharing a bathroom with everyone else." Her innocent statement was received by light laughter while Aisha led her out of the living room. "Did I say something funny?"

"Oh, no, it's just that we always want to make sure that our guests feel as comfortable as possible." Aisha led Tanya to the guest room and opened the door, stepping inside. "Leave your bag anywhere, there's a hamper in the closet for your dirty clothes so that we can wash them later. Your bathroom is through that door. My bedroom is over here and my parents' is just down the hall."

"It's great," Tanya said as she looked around the room. "Thank you for being so hospitable."

"You're welcome. I'll leave you to get some sleep. If you need anything, my Mom and Dad are just downstairs. Maybe later we can go to Ernie's."

"That sounds great, thank you." Aisha turned on her heel and started towards the door, only stopping when Tanya continued with, "but what's an Ernie?"

The yellow ninja ranger laughed and promised to explain later before leaving the room, closing the door behind her quietly. She then hurried back down the stairs, calling to her mother and father that she was heading over to Rocky's house before disappearing out the front door. She walked over and knocked on the front door. Hearing footsteps approach, she took a step back to find Rocky open the door with Antonio hanging off of his back, giggling madly. Inside the house, she could hear the rest of his siblings running around with their mother yelling something from the kitchen.

"Hey Aisha," Rocky greeted her, his eyebrows momentarily rising in surprise. But then he reached out an arm and gave her a hug before stepping back once more. "What are you doing here?"

"I was…in the neighborhood," she replied.

"Of course you were in the neighborhood, your house is only a few minutes' walk away," he replied.

Antonio leaned into his brother's face before looking over at Aisha, then back at Rocky once more, his smile widening. Aisha returned his smile and gave him a finger-wave, causing him to bashfully turn his face into Rocky's neck. The red ninja ranger seemed to suddenly notice he was there, and lifted Antonio off of his back and onto the ground. Turning, he gently patted his brother on the butt as he ran off. He turned back to her. "What's up?" He then slapped himself on the forehead. "Sorry, I'm being rude, come in."

Aisha laughed lightly and followed Rocky into the house as he closed the door behind them. The red ninja ranger then led the two of them through the living room. He stopped and motioned to the couch where an older male sat watching TV, watching as the rest of Rocky's siblings continued to run around, hopping and hollering as they played a game of tag…or was it hide and seek? The yellow ninja ranger wasn't entirely sure other than the fact that they were running around and shrieking when they ran into each other.

"You remember my Dad," he said, motioning to the man.

Noticing their guest, Daniel DeSantos turned away from the TV and got up from the couch. Aisha glanced over at her friend when she, once again, noticed how much Rocky resembled his father. The man strode over to Aisha with an air of confidence that always seemed to radiate off him, that she remembered, and held his large hand out to her. She was intimidated at first, remembering the times he would snap at her, Rocky, and Adam to be quiet when the three of them were running around together, but then she heard the sound of her inner bear growling, reminding her that she was stronger than she used to be. That she could stand her ground no matter what came her way.

With renewed confidence, Aisha stuck out her hand and shook Daniel's hand firmly. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. DeSantos," she said to him. "I bet it's strange to be back in Angel Grove after being away for so long."

Daniel's eyes shifted over to Rocky for a moment, briefly wondering what the red ninja ranger had told her about his disappearance, but turned his attention back to her. He shook her hand just as firmly, though Aisha did her best to give an extra squeeze on Daniel's hand to showcase her power. A small smile tugged at her lips as Daniel reacted with surprise; quickly dropping her hand and taking a step back. Beside her, Rocky cast her a confused glance as he watched his father.

"Yes, well, it's good to be able to see my family again," Daniel finally replied. Absentmindedly, he reached up and rubbed the palm of his crushed hand. "It's not going to be easy, but I do intend for everyone to be a family again."

"We're going to be out back," Rocky interrupted. He grabbed Aisha's arm and dragged her through the living room, through the kitchen—where she caught site of Mrs. DeSantos waving an oven mitt at her in greeting—then out the back door where patio furniture was set up. With a heavy sigh, he sat down on a lawn chair. "I think I'm the only one that hasn't actually forgotten why Dad was sent to jail in the first place. Mom is trying to be Mary homemaker in there, and the kids are just glad he's back."

"So why can't you be happy about that?" Aisha asked him.

"I think having police storm through my room looking for the dugs he planted there killed every possibility for me to be happy he's back home. He chose the drugs over us."

"Well...Rock…he was trying to make money to support all of you guys."

"And that support drove him right into a jail cell. Good riddance if you ask me, we were doing just fine before he came around again." Aisha knew it was something that was bothering him for a while as he hadn't made any move to make a joke throughout their conversation. He was always happy about something, cracking a joke about this and that even if there was nothing to make a joke about. This time around however, he was eerily serious. "Well, you didn't come here to hear me talk about him, did you?"

"I don't know, I might have." Aisha gave him a playful shove on the arm. "I like listening to you talk." She felt her face warm and she let out a light cough, turning her head away. "Well, I did want to see you. There's something I need to say to all you guys and I wasn't sure how to say it, so I thought you could help me out." Shifting in his seat, the red ninja ranger gave her his full attention. "Do you remember that exchange student thing that I had signed up for? Back when we were still at Stone Canyon?" He nodded. "Well, the exchange student from Africa came and she's staying at my place."

"Really?" Rocky looked interested. "What's she like?"

"Well, her name is Tanya Sloan…and that's all I know about her so far," Aisha said. She shrugged. "We haven't really gotten to know each other yet; she went straight to sleep once she got here. But here's the thing…she's going to be here with us for a month or so…and then I'm going to be going out to Africa for my part of the exchange." She studied Rocky's face as his eyebrows raised but he didn't make any other reaction. "I was accepted into the program as well. So I'll be going there while she's here."

Silence stretched between them.

"Wow," he finally said. "That's amazing, 'Sha!"

"It is?" That wasn't exactly the reaction she had hoped to get.

"Yes." He turned sideways in his seat to face her completely, his eyes flashing. "You've been talking about going to Africa for years and to be able to do it as part of a school program is great. You'll actually be able to immerse yourself in the culture while you're there." He rested his chin against an upraised hand. "I think you'd be a fool to not go."

"What about the rangers?"

"I think at this point we're used to people leaving, what's one more?" As the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile, Aisha knew he was making a joke out of it. That was always going to be something they had to go through as their lives continued to move forward. _At least he can find something positive about it, we just lost Kim, and I don't know how the tea is going to go on._ "We're going to be fine," he said, as if reading her mind. "Things turned out well after Jason, Zack, and Trini left, right?"

"…Right."

"And it's not like you're leaving anytime soon."

"In about a month or so, Rocky, that's like, tomorrow in high school years," she pointed out. Bringing her hands up to her head, Aisha started to panic a little. "I thought doing college applications were going to be hard but…this…this is worse. We've always found someone to replace the person on the team and we were lucky to be able to find Kat as a replacement for Kim. What's going to happen if we can't find anyone, especially with Master Vile around? I don't think they're going to wait for us to get everything together."

"But if you don't do this, you're going to regret it."

"I'll regret not being able to help you guys, either."

"Listen," Rocky said. He licked his lips as he thought for a moment and Aisha took the time to study him. He looked exactly the same he always had, a face that was waiting to break out into a grin with eyes that were always sparkling with some sort of amusing thing the rest of the rangers couldn't tell. But he was always great for the kind of sage advice that seemed to pop up out of nowhere and she really needed it at the moment. "If we all got the opportunity to live out our dreams, you know we'd push each other to do it. Despite being rangers we still have to live out our lives, we're still teenagers; we still have everything ahead of us. And we have to make the right decisions for ourselves."

"But what if we don't know if it is the right decision?"

"You just have to have faith in yourself. I do."

The yellow ninja ranger smiled and turned her head away, unsure what to say in response. But that was a good thing. She didn't necessarily have to say anything in reply because she had a feeling he knew what it was that she wanted to say. Even then, she could practically see his ape spirit letting out an almighty roar and pound its fists against its chest in celebration.

Rocky reached out his hand and gently placed it on Aisha's chin before leaning in and kissing her. The yellow ninja ranger felt her shoulders relax in surprise before kissing him back. The kiss ended so soon, just as surprising as the beginning of the kiss in general. The African-American teen leaned back and smiled up at Rocky, she opened her mouth to try and say something, but Rocky quickly brought up his hands and backed a few inches away.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "Did you not want me to do that? I just…I just wanted to make you feel better. Was that not the way to…I'm sorry."

"Rocky, you don't…" a light laugh escaped Aisha's lips and she reached out, taking his hand between hers. "Don't worry about it," she said. "It actually made me feel a lot better."

The red ninja ranger smiled.


	43. High Wind Advisory

**Chapter 43**

_High Wind Advisory (1)  
_

* * *

Jason let out a slow breath as he lowered the barbell over his chest. Then he regained that breath as he pushed it up over him once more. Over and over again he focused on his breathing as he continued to lift the weights above him. It was a part of his life now, something he wasn't ever going to stop doing whether he was teaching classes or just working on his own. As it was, he had a feeling that he _had_ to do it in some capacity. Not that it had become routine, but because he there was something telling him that there was more for him than just sitting around and helping the rangers whenever the time was needed. He was much more than a secret keeper…he just didn't know how yet.

 _That's all you have to focus on right now,_ Jason thought as he continued to lift weights throughout the numerous pieces of equipment in the Youth Center. _To get ready for whatever it is that's coming your way. Whatever that is._

"Aren't you the one that told me that you're supposed to have a spotter when you're doing this sort of thing?"

Jason lifted his gaze from his spot on the ceiling and spotted the orange ninja ranger standing above him. He took in her appearance, mostly noticing the lack of orange on her other than a scrunchie in her hair, and then focused on the spot once more. He lowered and raised the barbell one more time and brought it back to the holders before coming out from underneath it. He cast her a funny look as he grabbed his towel and dabbed at his face.

"By now I think I know what I'm doing," he remarked. "And besides that, I can at least lift my own body weight when I'm working out." Swinging his legs over the side of the bench, he stood up. "What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't you tell?" Avalon gestured down to her khaki capris and dark polo shirt, her work uniform. "I'm taking a break, thought I would get a smoothie or something." She reached up and lightly pressed her fingers into the side of her face. "Thankfully my animal spirit helped to make me withstand more blows or else I'm sure my face would've bruised like crazy. Even though it doesn't show, it still hurts a little."

"And you think drinking a smoothie from a straw is going to help that?"

"No. I think holding it against my face will."

Jason followed her to the counter and gave Ernie their drink orders before leaning back on his stool and looked over at her. "Are you going to go to the police?" He asked. At her raised eyebrow he clarified. "They can't just get away with jumping you like that; the police need to know they're back in the area."

"Considering how long Lt. Stone has been tracking them since then, it shouldn't be hard for him and the rest of the police department to figure it out, yeah?" She replied, keeping her eyes on Ernie as she watched him make their smoothies. "There's no point in saying anything. Besides, Chase turned himself in and at some point he's probably going to be given some sort of a plea deal to name Summer and Skye. There's no point for me to get involved unless I get called to trial."

"There's no point?" He repeated incredulously.

"No matter how long you've been in or out of a gang if you snitch on them, it'll be worse than if you were to leave the in general. So, yeah, I think it's a bloody better idea not to say anything." She thanked Ernie for her smoothie as he passed it over to her and dropped a five dollar bill onto the counter to pay for it. "And, like I said before, it didn't show on my face, there is no visible bruising. So what sort of proof would I have if I went to the police for it?"

"A list of incidents?" Jason replied. He lifted and lowered a hand before bringing it up to his forehead. "At least tell your Mom, she's still in Angel Grove right?"

"Yeah, she's gonna be here a little while longer and I'm not going to worry her about something she doesn't need to be worried about."

"So you're going to wait until machine gunfire comes flying through your windows before you mention it? That doesn't seem like a really smart decision to make, especially considering the fact that you now have, like, three houses that you're going back and forth from. If you count the hotel your Mom stays at while she's here."

The orange ninja ranger waved a hand. "That's not important, not more than the whole Zeo Crystal thing," she replied. A serious expression slid on her face as Jason let out a sigh and lightly rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time she tried to change the subject whenever her former life was brought up. But she was right; it was a more serious conversation to have. If Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd were hanging around just to grab the Zeo Crystals, they had to find a way to get to them first. With having now ideas to even begin to look for them, it was like the rangers had hit a brick wall and had no idea of how to get around or over it.

"Is that pure heart thing about it still bugging you?" At her silence, Jason took it as a confirming answer. "If I were you, I'd talk to Kat about it."

"Why would I want to do that?" The Australian teen practically spat, frowning.

"Because she's going through the same thing, though it's a bit more serious. She's a ranger now, sure, but there's a part of her that's still probably being held by Rita's mind control. Zordon had warned us that it was something that would probably be hard to break, and having evil inside you…if that's not something that will make you wonder about being 'pure of heart' I don't know what will." Avalon bobbed her head back and forth and brought her smoothie to her lips, taking a long sip. Then it struck Jason why she always seemed to have a sort of adverse reaction to the newest member of the team. "Oh, I get it. You miss, Kim."

The orange ninja ranger's eyes shifted for a moment then she lowered her head, allowing her hair to fall into her face. When she spoke next her voice had softened, proving to Jason that he had hit the nail on the head. "And that's a bad thing?"

"It's not a bad thing, but you're taking your anger on Kim's leaving and Kat taking her place, out on someone else that doesn't deserve it. It's not going to make Kat feel like she's part of the team and then you won't be able to come together as a team like we used to be. That'll just make you fall apart in the long run and it'll affect a lot more people than just you two. Call Kim and talk to her if you need to, she was the one that chose Kat to take her place."

"Whatever."

Jason shrugged and went back to his drink. As he brought it to his mouth to take a sip, he looked around the youth center at all of the other teenagers. They had not a care in the world other than their school work and what colleges they were about to go to. Not to mention getting out of the city once the warning sirens went off, to be sure there weren't any fatalities with the monster attacks that were inevitable. That was supposed to be the life he was to have at the moment, but he couldn't do that, not when he knew who they were and knew there were to be times where they would need his help to get away. It was only a matter of time until it didn't work much longer, but it was a responsibility he was taking very seriously.

His eyes completing the revolution around the Youth Center, he spotted Billy come through the doorway and nodded at him. He frowned when Billy didn't respond to his greeting and seemed to stop short, stumbling over his feet. Eyebrows furrowing together, Jason reached out and nudged Avalon on the arm. She turned her attention to him and he pointed over to the blue ninja ranger. She turned and waved at him and he looked back and forth between the two of his friends before turning on his heel and disappearing through the door he came from.

 _Weird,_ Jason thought. He hesitated as the orange ninja ranger quickly got off her stool and followed her boyfriend. It might be ranger news but at the same time he wasn't sure if it was something he should barge in on. Nevertheless, he got off of his stool and followed closely along behind the other two, staying a little bit further behind them.

"Hey," she said to Billy as Jason hung back at the end of the hallway, leaning against the doorframe. "Aren't you going to stay and get something to drink? Or is there something going on and we need to get to the Command Center?"

Billy shrugged as he slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. His blue-green eyes moved over towards Jason before he turned them back to his girlfriend. "You seem to have good enough company right now." A light sigh escaped Jason's lips as he brought up his hand and ran it through his hair. Despite her back being turned towards him, Jason could see her shoulders tense and could only assume the confusion on her face.

"Sure if you think being lectured about how I'm dealing with Summer and Skye is the kind of company I want. I mean, I get his point but—"

"—and that's clearly something that you didn't want to bring up to me," Billy interrupted. He tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he looked down at his girlfriend. "Because you never mention it to anyone until you absolutely have to. That's not good for what we're trying to do."

"What is it with everyone giving me the same lecture lately? I get that it's not a good idea to keep this a secret all the time, but I'm just trying to protect you guys. Are you really going to fault me for that?"

"Do whatever you want." Billy turned on his heel and started to turn away.

"Wait, I don't get it," Avalon said. She hurried and moved in front of Billy and backed up a few spaces so that she could look directly at him, instead of having to tilt her head back sharply. "What's wrong, Billy? Did…did I do something wrong?"

"No, _you_ didn't do anything wrong."

"So…why are you so bloody mad? Did I make a blue or…" she trailed off before tilting her head to the side. "Why won't you touch me?" From where Jason stood he could see Billy taken aback by the somewhat changed topic. "You don't…you don't ever want to hold my hand or give me a hug or kiss me when we're in public and I can't help but think that I'm doing something wrong. Or that you don't want to be with me anymore."

"Do you still have feelings for Jason?"

"What? No!" She brought her hands up and slapped herself on the forehead before frowning at him. "Is _that_ what this is about? Mate, I hate feeling for him before, but I don't anymore. I wouldn't be with you if I did. I wouldn't lead you on like that." She crossed her arms. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"So did I," Billy replied, crossing his arms as well.

Eyes narrowing, Avalon started to respond but the sound of their communicators going off cut her off. Jason looked down at his own communicator then looked around to be sure no one else had heard. He slid around the corner then went over to the two fighting rangers, standing off to the side. "I hate to interrupt this conversation, but this may be something we want to answer." He grimaced as the two rangers turned and glared at him. "Which I will now do." He brought his communicator up to his mouth. "We read you, Zordon, what's going on?"

"There is a disturbance that our sensors have picked up," Zordon replied. "Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd seem to be moving to try and find the Zeo Crystal and we have to head them off before they can do so."

"We're on our way," Jason said. He barely got the last of the words out of his mouth when he saw the orange and blue lights of the rangers disappear out of the corner of his eye. "Actually, do you mind teleporting me up there?"

"Right, Jason, we'll have you to the Command Center in a few moments," Alpha replied.

"Thank you."

* * *

Master Vile turned away from his view of Earth as he heard footsteps coming his way. He watched as Rito and Goldar walked around the front of the chair and stood in front of him. Master Vile's eyes shifted back and forth between his son and the golden monster as they stared back at him. "What is it that you want?"

"Say, Pops, how have things been?" Rito asked. "How's Mom? Did she finally manage to brainwash her students like she's always wanted? Hey, did you ever find that Demon Dog that ran away from home? I didn't think it would be that hard to find him but he always was a slippery one."

With a light sigh, Master Vile slowly got to his feet. He then moved over towards Rito and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Rito, we should've told you a long time ago that none of us wanted to have that Demon Dog and it was your mother and I that let him go." At Rito's cry of despair, his father shook his head. "But don't worry, he's a Demon Dog, nothing really can happen to it." He then turned to Goldar. "What is it that you want?"

"Is it true you have the ability to bring people back from the dead?" Goldar asked him.

"Again, the Demon Dog cannot—"

"I'm not asking for the Demon Dog, there is someone else that I am asking for you to bring back another. Scorpina. She used to work with us."

"Yeah, until Goldar wasted her with a sword through the heart," Rito added. He reached out and patted Goldar on the back. "Didn't ya, buddy? Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure why you decided to do that."

"Because, you dolt, I'm the one that called Master Ville to come here," Goldar snapped. He turned back towards Master Vile and took a step towards him. "I know you have the ability to make those stronger, once they come back from the dead. It will be imperative to our destruction of the rangers if we have someone that will stand a chance." He turned back to Rito. "I would've done the same thing to you, but I wouldn't have brought you back."

Rito glared at him.

"That's no problem at all," Master Vile replied. He cleared his throat before walking to an empty portion of the balcony. Holding up his staff he muttered a few mystical words as the orb on top of the staff glowed a bright gold. He continued to say the words, increasing in tempo as he continued to wave the staff around. Finally what appeared to be a pentagram illuminated on the floor under their feet. As the light increased in brightness a form came up from the floor in the middle of the pentagram. When it faded Scorpina stood in front of the group. "There you have it," he declared. "I have returned her from the dead."

"Ahhh," Goldar declared. He went over to Scorpina and gently cupped her chin in his hand. "As lovely as ever."

Scorpina smiled back before bringing her hand back and slapping Goldar on the arm as hard as she could. He let out a cry of pain and backed away to hide behind Rito. "What took you so long?" She demanded. "Do you know the kinds of people that are down there? They are _not_ good conversationalists and let me tell you, there's nothing worse than having to hear those that are dead run out of stories."

Rito then shoved Goldar out of his way and went over to Scorpina, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Say, you didn't seem to find a Demon Dog that answers by the name Devil did you? Not to be confused with the big guy downstairs but—"

"—Rito, he's gone, get over it!" Master Vile interrupted. "Now that we have finished this, it's time to find Rita and her husband. We don't have a lot of time to waste when it comes to the Zeo Crystal. Once we have that in our power we'll take over the Earth and the rest of the Universe for sure." He waved a hand and motioned for the henchmen to follow him out of the balcony. He walked down to the caves and found Rita and Zedd standing at the opening they were to go into. "Are you ready?" He asked them.

Rita and Zedd exchanged glances and looked over at Master Vile. For once in their lives they appeared scared, which was a testament to the power that Master Vile held over the two of them. Rita finally slowed hard before taking a step forward.

"Father," she said to him. "There's a slight problem."

A low rumbling started in Master Vile's chest before it came up to his throat, causing Rita to move to her brother's side and back away from him. The orb atop his staff started to glow in the same vein that Zedd's body did when he was angry. "What sort of problem?" He growled.

"Well, you know how Zeddy's entire body managed to come out like that?" Rita asked, motioning towards her husband, who turned and glared at her. "You see, there is the potential for that happening to us, too."

"Not with the specialized item I asked your clumsy oaf of a monster Finster to create for me," Master Vile continued. He held up his staff to show off what resembled a radar gun attached to the top of his staff. Turning it back and forth he smiled lovingly at it. "It has the power to break down the force field placed up on the Zeo Crystal."

"That'd be great," Zedd pointed out. "If the Zeo Crystal were even down here."

"WHAT?!" Master Vile's roar caused the surrounding area to tremble and quake. A section of the caves collapsed around them and they hurried into the cavern that was to hold the Zeo Crystal. He hurried inside and looked around the cavern that had held the Zeo Crystal for centuries to come. He could see the imprint where the Zeo Crystal had sat before. One glance around the room showed the skeletons that were strewn around due to the fore of the crystal as they had tried to get to it. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

"It looks like the Zeo Crystal has been moved before we were able to get to it," Scorpina commented. She pouted as she ran her fingers over the ridges of her sword. "Which is really no fun at all! I came back from the dead for this!"

Master Vile clenched his hand into a fist, nearly cracking his staff in half. "This is not how it's going to end! I need those Zeo Crystals! The only way we'll take over is if we have those Zeo Crystals."

"Those power brats must've gotten to it before we did," Goldar declared. "They must have the crystal in their possession right now."

"We can't let them get away with this," Master Vile declared. He held up his staff over his head as a bright flash of golden light before lightning bolts started to zap around the room. Once the light faded a golden orb that resembled earth appeared over his hand. "With this orb I declare the utter destruction of the Earth. We'll block off the rangers from their power source and destroy them so that we can get the crystal back from them. First we'll have to cut off all the things they hold dear and first things first would be their home! We'll go down there and destroy the rangers ourselves!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Rita declared, thrusting her staff into the air. "Let's go, Daddy!" She turned and smiled up at Master Vile, who let out a roar of laughter.

"You got it, princess!" Master Vile declared. He turned towards Rito and patted him on the head. "Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina will be the first wave of attacks; the rest of us shall follow later."

"And while we're at that, I have some work I need to do," Rita declared with an evil smile, her eyes flashing.

* * *

"Zordon, what are we going to do?" Aisha asked as she looked over the Viewing Globe once Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina appeared on the scene of Angel Grove. This time, however, they were at the giant size that Rita and Zedd normally caused the monsters to grow to. "Those guys were strong enough to destroy our zords the first time, who knows if our ninja powers can hold up to it."

"Yeah and what if this is some sort of a distraction plot to keep us from finding the Zeo Crystals?" Bailey added. "It's definitely something they'd do."

"You have no choice but to fight these monsters," Zordon replied. "You have to forget about the crystals for the time being and do your best to save the city. If Angel Grove is destroyed, then they will have all the power to find them themselves."

There was a sudden piercing cry and the rangers turned to find Kat falling to her knees, bringing her hands up to her head. As the seconds passed, her shrieks became louder and more frantic. "Kat!" Tommy kneeled down by her side. "Kat, is everything okay?"

"It has to be the hold Rita still holds on her," Billy commented, kneeling down on her other side. He took the pink ninja ranger's face in his hands and gently forced one of her eyes open. He jerked back as he found her eye quickly flash red. "Zordon warned us about this when Kat first joined our team, that Rita may still have power over her."

"Is there anything we can do? Do you have a purified or something that we can use on her or something?" Rocky asked, kneeling over the blue and white rangers. At Billy's exasperated glance in return he turned towards Zordon and Alpha. "Can we really forget about the Zeo Crystal at a time like this?"

"Aisha's worry was right, yeah?" Avalon remarked, crossing her arms. "We can't forget about it. If these powers were enough to defeat Ivan, who knows if they're enough to defeat these three _and_ Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile. I don't know if you noticed, but the sky is turning dark out there, that can't be good."

"While you guys are out there on the field we can try and see if there's anything here that will determine the location," Jason reassured her.

Standing up, Billy rolled his eyes lightly. "Don't you think we've already tried that? Zordon and Alpha already said that the crystals were on the moon underneath the Lunar Palace and has been there for centuries."

"If that were the case, they'd have no need to come down to Earth, right?" Avalon shot back.

The two glared at each other and Jason quickly turned away, going over to Alpha. He placed his hand on the animatronic robot's shoulder. "It won't hurt to see if there's anything we can do up here. Just watching isn't going to help, maybe while we're at it, we'll find something that will help Kat."

The pink ninja ranger's cries dissipated until she was whimpering lightly. Then her cries faded and as she opened her eyes, they dulled back to their light blue color. She lowered her hands from her head and took a few deep breaths, rubbing her jean covered thighs. "Are you alright, Kat?" Tommy asked her anxiously.

"I think so," she said weakly.

"Can you stand up?" Aisha grabbed her other arm and she and Tommy helped Kat stand up. "Don't force yourself, Kat; Rita's magic is really powerful."

"I'm alright. It's getting easier by the second. But I can't just sit here and let her do it again. We have to stop them and even if it's a great risk, I'm going to help you." Kat looked earnestly around at the other rangers with a look of determination. "I haven't been a ranger for long but I'll do my best. I won't give up."

"Rangers," Zordon's voice boomed around them. "This is going to be a very difficult and very dangerous mission and Alpha and I are proud to work beside you as you work hard to face the forces of evil. Fight hard and remember we're always on your side as well as the forces of good are there to help you when the time is needed. Be safe and may the Power protect you."

"Looks like there's something big coming," Bailey remarked, watching as the sky over Angel Grove continued to darken into a black pitch. "Are we really going to do this?"

"Whatever it is," Adam said. "We have to do it and fast."

"He's right," Tommy agreed. "We'll go now and keep an eye out on Kat to be sure Rita doesn't completely take her over. It's too risky to keep her here at the Command Center; she'll have to be on the battlefield with the rest of us. Is everyone ready?"

"Ready," was the unanimous reply.

"It's morphin' time! White ranger power!"

"Purple ranger power!"

"Orange ranger power!"

"Black ranger power!"

"Pink ranger power!"

"Blue ranger power!"

"Yellow ranger power!"

"Red ranger power!"


	44. The Storm

**Chapter 44**

_The Storm (2)  
_

* * *

Once the rangers morphed, they climbed onto their Shark Cycles and raced off towards the area Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina had been indicated to be. Bailey pulled her gloved hand off of the handlebar of her Shark Cycle and pressed a button on the dashboard that sat in front of her. In between the gas gauge and the speedometer, a screen illuminated and started to flash.

"We've got a reading that Goldar and Rito are wreaking havoc," Bailey called to her friends. She squinted as she appeared in the screen in front of her. "And…Scorpina?"

"Scorpina?" Adam repeated. He glanced over at her, his movement nearly causing him to run his Shark Cycle into a street lamp. He quickly jerked the Shark Cycle back out of the way, falling behind his friends once more. "She hasn't been around in a while. I thought she wasn't siding with Rita and Zedd anymore."

"Yeah, the last time we had seen her was when our Thunderzords were destroyed," Rocky added. He shook his head before leaning to the side, following the rangers as they blasted through the streets of Angel Grove. The further along they went, the worse the damage seemed to get. At first there only appeared to be a few portions of structural damage to buildings, and then there were large cracks and holes blasted out of the surrounding buildings and floors as they went. "Man, they must really be trying hard to destroy the city this time around."

"Or lure us out to find the Zeo Crystals before we can," Avalon pointed out. "The best way to do whatever it is they want is by an aversion. We'll have to take care of Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina bloody fast if we want any chance of getting to the Zeo Crystal first."

"She's right," Tommy agreed. "Let's kick it into high gear! Warp Speed!" He reached out and pressed a button on his dashboard. There was a rushing sound accompanying the sudden burst of speed to his white Shark Cycle, causing the front of his bike to lift into the air before falling down to the racing asphalt once more.

"Warp Speed!" His friends followed his lead and the colorful fleet rocketed towards the three monsters that attacked their city. Once they arrived they found Goldar and Scorpina tag-teaming as they tortured a small group of people on the street. "Back off, Goldie, we've got a bone to pick with you!"

"Is that supposed to be a crack against me?" Rito demanded. He turned towards the rangers as they rapidly approached and brought his hand up to his face. "Oh well, you're going to pay for it anyway!" Lowering his hand, he shot out a beam of energy towards the rangers. They quickly swerved out of the way and the blast crashed to the ground behind them, creating a chasm in the road, sending rock and asphalt flying in all directions. "Just because you got some awesome bikes doesn't mean it's going to help you!"

"We'll see about that!" Kat declared. She pressed a button on her dashboard and bolts of energy shot out of the eyes of her Shark Cycle and over to Rito, striking him directly in the chest. She cheered as Rito stumbled back and the rangers shot by him. They turned sharply and headed back towards them. This time, however, Goldar and Scorpina joined Rito and the three waved their swords around as the rangers raced towards them.

The swords smacked against the side of Aisha's, Billy's, and Tommy's motorcycles and sent sparks flying as they turned around once more. Then a fleet of Tengas appeared around the three monsters and the rangers drove around, knocking as many Tengas to the ground as they could, shooting the with the lasers and missiles that came along with their vehicles before Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina caught on to the tactics of their high speed vehicles. Standing back to back, the three monsters all shot out blasts of energy towards the rangers.

Their bikes flew out from underneath them and they went flying through the air with an almighty scream, landing in a heap on the ground. Goldar laughed loudly as he placed his hands on his hips. "I thought you power brats were supposed to be stronger than that," he remarked. "At least try to make this a little bit difficult for us."

"No way, defeating them this easily is just too much fun!" Scorpina declared. She stretched her arms over her head then brought her sword up, lovingly petting it. "I haven't had this much exercise in a long time, let's see what this new power can do!"

"Be my guest," Rito said, crossing his arms. "Pops and Sis must have finished their part of the plan by now." He made a show of bowing, spreading out his arm to give Scorpina the go ahead. Then he laughed gleefully and stepped back so that he was by Goldar, the two watching. Scorpina took a few steps forward and jumped high into the air.

"Hiya!" She cried, swinging her sword, sending a large blast of energy toward the rangers. Much stronger and larger than her former attacks, showcasing the exacerbated amount of strength that had been bestowed upon her as she had been resurrected by Master Vile. The energy blast rocketed towards the rangers, inching closer to them within each second.

"Tiger Token!"

"Lion Lancer!"

"Bear Brigade!"

Avalon's shield appeared in her hands and increased in size. She held it up in front of her, crouching down in front of the other rangers so that they were protected. Aisha and Bailey used their giant fan and chain sickle to attack Golda, Rito, and Scorpina before the blast could hit him. The powerful energy attack crashed into the orange ninja ranger's shield but was still enough to cause critical damage. Thankfully, the added power of the ninja spirits, kept the rangers safe, though they felt the blow right down to their bones as they crashed back to the ground.

"We can't give up, guys," Tommy groaned as he pushed himself back to his knees. "We have to save Angel Grove. We have to keep our friends and family safe." He held himself up for a few moments before falling to his stomach once more. At this side, Kat reached out and grabbed onto him, holding him up as she got to her knees as well.

"Zordon, come in," Rocky said into his communicator. "Things are a lot worse than we thought; we could use your help." He let out a light gasp as there was no response. He turned to his friends and glanced at them before quickly bringing his wrist up to his mouth once more. "Zordon, Alpha, come in."

"Our link to the Command Center has been broken," Aisha pointed out. "What are we going to do?"

"It doesn't seem like we have nearly enough power to beat these guys," Bailey pointed out. "Even with our weapons, I don't think we'll be able to hold them off."

"Looks like we should call in the zords," Billy remarked. As all eyes turned to him he shook his head. "I know, we're not supposed to escalate a battle. I don't think this is one of the times this will fall under that category. But these guys are even stronger than we've ever thought we'd face, and we still don't know what Rita and Zedd are up to." He shook his head. "We don't have much of a choice."

"Billy's right," Adam agreed. "We can't wait for things to get worse before we do anything about it. We have to summon our zords."

"I hope you're right," Tommy agreed. He got to his feet and thrust his hand into the air. "We need Ninjazord Power, now!"

"Zordon, our communication with the rangers has fallen," Fred declared as he alternatively turned from the viewing globe to the control panel beside him. On the other side of the Command Center floor, Jason and Alpha rapidly tried to bring back the com. link with the rangers' communicators. "What are we going to do now?"

"Don't give up hope yet, Fred, the rangers are capable of doing this, we just have to keep our faith in them," Zordon replied. Jason turned towards his mentor and studied the face of the floating head; it was as stoic as ever. Despite Zordon's comforting words, he couldn't be sure if Zordon truly did believe things were going to work out. This was one of the first times the connection between them all had been broken through outside forces, other times it had been from a monster that had the sort of frequency as or else Zordon and Alpha had been in the middle of a recharge.

This was different, with Master Vile and the Zeo Crystals in play, the stakes were raised higher than any of them anticipated. Not even when Tommy had lost his powers of the green ranger and they were one ranger down did they think there would be a chance they couldn't overcome the evil Rita and Zedd tried to send all over Earth. But as the skies continued to darken and lightning shot all over Angel Grove, even the former ranger could see this was something unlike they had ever gone through before. But if the rangers were able to defeat Ivan, they could do this too, right?

 _We can't afford to lose our heads,_ Jason thought, taking in a deep breath. _Alpha and Zordon are right. We have to have faith in what they can do._ He turned around, crossing his arms over his chest as he caught Fred's eye. "There's always something that can be done, right now we have to see if there's a way we can find the Zeo Crystals."

"Actually, we were hoping you could help _us_ figure that out!" Master Vile's voice came from behind him and Jason and Fred whirled around to find Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd slowly walking towards them after having had teleported into the Command Center.

"Ay yi yi yi yi! How did they get in here?" Alpha asked, his hands waving. "No one is supposed to be able to get in here without a Power Coin!" He took a few steps backwards until he was behind Fred and Jason, who moved to stand in front of him. "Ay yi yi," he said quietly.

"What business do you have of breaking into our Command Center?" Zordon demanded. Jason glanced up at his mentor and watched in awe and impression as the three monsters moved closer to them, but Zordon still held his regal air. "You've already caused enough havoc on Angel Grove and are putting many lives in danger. What business do you have here?"

Master Vile let out a light snort as he walked around the floor of the Command Center. He appeared to be casing the place, as if trying to find some hiding spot that wasn't clear to him that the Zeo Crystals would be sitting. Rita and Zedd, on the other hand, moved closer to Fred, Jason, and Alpha, who all stared back at them. The married couple held up their staves and pointed them towards the three, silently daring them to move, knowing they would move quicker than two humans and a robot would be able to. Master Vile turned around and faced Zordon, turning his staff towards the mighty mage.

"We want the Zeo Crystals and we want them now!" Master Vile declared. "We're not leaving without them."

"They're not here," Fred blurted out before he could stop himself. He gulped and squeezed his eyes shut when Zedd turned his way and lightly poked him in the stomach with the tip of his z-staff. "We were told they were in the Caves of Despair underneath the Lunar Palace."

"Yes, well, they're not there," Master Vile pointed out. "Do you think we'd actually be in this place if we had them?" He lifted the staff and pointed it towards Zordon. "Now, before I destroy the face of your time warp…I've heard about your most recent passing. It'd be a shame if that were to happen again. That can all be avoided if you tell us where the Zeo Crystals are."

"At the moment we have no indication of where the Zeo Crystals are," Zordon said calmly. "We were to believe they were in your possession."

"Under the Lunar Palace," Jason added. "Within the Caves of Despair underneath your palace. There's only to be ones that have the purest of heart can get it." He looked Rita and Zedd in the eye. "Even if we knew where it was, we wouldn't tell you. Even if it was to save Angel Grove and Earth, it's not worth it."

"That's tough talk for someone that's going to be dead within a few moments," Zedd growled.

Rita smiled a little as she walked over to Jason and rang her fingernails down his cheek. He flinched and jerked away from her as she let out her loud cackle of laughter. Fred even slapped his hands over his ears and ducked to the side, while Alpha's circuits started to go haywire for a moment. Jason turned back to Rita and glared defiantly at her as she moved back to her husband's side.

"Forget the white ranger," she commented. "I could make this one my pet. He still has the fighting spirit, but he doesn't have the power anymore."

"Enough small talk," Master Vile interrupted. "We traced the energy of the Zeo Crystals here, we know you have them! Where are they?!"

"They're not here!" Fred cried.

"Ay yi yi yi." Alpha slowly regained his composure. He brought his hands up to his head then lowered them once more. "They were able to indicate them within the walls of the Lunar Palace, but I haven't indicated them to be here."

Master Vile made a tsk sound. "Well, I guess I'll have to find it myself." He pulled his staff back a little bit then shot it forward, sending a wave of energy to the wall of the Command Center. It immediately crashed through the wall and opened a massive hole where a bright light shined out through it. Zedd immediately went over to the hole and peered inside. "Well? Is it there?"

Zedd shook his head as he took a step back. There was another blinding light as a bolt of energy shot from his Z-Staff into the room, destroying everything within the room. Fred winced, watching in dismay as bits and pieces of their weapons and differing experiments shot all over the floor. Zedd turned back to Alpha and prodded him with his Z-Staff. "Maybe we should first tart tearing this bucket of bolts apart, one by one, and see if he's able to give us an answer as to where the Zeo Crystals are."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun, Zeddy!" Rita declared. She went over to her husband and threw her arms around him, giving him a long kiss. Jason grimaced but made sure to keep the attention away from himself. Nevertheless, he watched Master Vile out of the corner of his eye as the monster continued to pace back and forth in front of Zordon's tube. He pushed himself away from the control panel and slowly started to make his way towards Master Vile. With Rita's and Zedd's attention turned towards Fred and Alpha, he had the clear path to doing something to keep Master Vile from wreaking more havoc. Especially as the monster was too preoccupied with getting answers about the Zeo Crystal out of the being stuck in his time warp.

Jason snuck up behind Master Vile and did a quick high-jump kick, hitting him in the back. Master Vile stumbled forward and spun around to strike Jason with his staff. The former ranger ducked out of the way and shot a high kick into Master Vile's face seconds before liquid pain shot through his body. He screamed and fell to his knees before collapsing onto his stomach. He rolled over to find Rita standing behind him, lowering her magic wand, the red gem gleaming. Her eyes were alight with a fury he had never seen in her before.

"How _dare_ you touch my father like that!" She roared. "I will obliterate you, red ranger!" She reached out and pressed her foot against his stomach, causing him to wince in pain as she continued to press her weight against him. "I have waited for this morning for a long time, red ranger, and now is the time for you to die!" She brought her gleaming wand closer to his face and he stared back at her defiantly. He didn't care about the potential that his life was about to end, he didn't care that he wasn't a ranger anymore, he didn't care about anything but giving his friends more time to figure out how to defeat all of these monsters and save his home.

"No!"

The sudden cry caused Jason to tilt his head back and watch as Master Vile and Zedd brought their staves down and knocked hers away. Zedd then reached down and roughly grabbed onto Jason and hauled him to his feet by his hair. Jason cried out in pain as he felt strands of his hair rip out, sending blinding waves of pain through his body.

"If we're going to destroy the rangers, I want them all to be here at the same time," Master Vile declared. "I want them all to suffer at the same time while we listen to their screams of pain and agony as they're slowly crushed to death."

"Spoken like a true ruler of darkness," Zedd said in a low grumble. He shoved Jason over to Fred and Alpha, who caught him as he stumbled. "All three of you sit here while we decide what to do next. It may be the only time you'll have to say your goodbyes, I'd spend it wisely."

Fred lowered his head, gently shaking it as he sat down on the floor in Indian position. He took his hat off of his head and looked up at the three monsters that continued to walk back and forth in front of him, speaking in low tones. Tilting his head back, he dropped his hat to his lap and started to move it back and forth in his hands. Something flickering across the Viewing Globe caught his attention and he looked over to see images of his friends fighting off the trio of monsters in their zords as hard as they could. He shook his head once more, shifting his eyes back towards the trio that were in the Command Center with him. Something was going to happen and soon, he knew it would. They were going to do something to help.

He had nothing but faith in them.

* * *

"Billy, you, Avalon, and Bailey try to circle around them, Kat and I will come in with an arsenal attack from the top," Tommy commanded as he pulled the control stick of his Flacon zord to the side and swirled through the skies with Kat in her Crane zord following close behind him.

"You got it," Billy replied. "Getting into position now." Tommy leaned to the side and looked out through the window of his cockpit watching as the wolf, lion, and tiger zords got into position around Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina as they fought off the frog, ape, and bear zords.

"Just give us the word and we'll get out of the way," Rocky replied. He let out a grunt as the ape zord grabbed onto Goldar and the two rocked back and forth, trying to through them over. He managed to get the upper hand and shoved Goldar's hands up into the air before charging forward and slamming straight into his chest, sending him sprawling back against the ground.

Scorpina, on Goldar's other side, let out a cackle of amusement as she continued to fight against the frog zord. She leapt over top of it and turned around, striking the back of the zord with a hard blow from her bone sword. "Aww, the little froggie isn't getting tired isn't he?" She cooed as Adam piloted the zord around. "My poor little black ranger, if I didn't have to kill you, I'd love to keep you around."

"This frog has more bite than you're accustomed to," Adam said through gritted teeth. He shot out the stick tongue of the zord, wrapping it around Scorpina's neck, and sent a shockwave of electricity through her body. She shrieked and backed away as quickly as she could from the flaming pain. Then Adam shot the zord forward and slammed into her, sending her back on the ground.

Aisha ambled her bear zord over towards Rito, increasing her pace as she went. Once it reached Rito, she turned it up onto its hind legs and swung her paw down and crashed it on top of Rito's head. She head a distinct cracking sound come from the area of his helmet but he didn't make a sound pertaining to the damage. Instead he focused on swinging his sword over the bear zord over and over again, hitting at strategic points. The yellow ninja ranger let out a sound of surprise as warning klaxons started to go off within the cockpit of her zord as well as the front window shattering.

"Ha! I've got you now, ranger!" Rito snarled, standing over her.

"I don't think so!" Billy pulled back on his control sticks and the wolf zord shot forward and fastened its teeth onto Rito's arm.

The skeleton monster screamed in surprise and whirled around, trying to knock the blue zord off of him. The Tiger zord bounded over and crashed into Rito's back, using the weight of the wolf zord to knock him onto his front, then leapt towards Goldar, showering him with missiles from its fangs before crash landing onto him. Bailey turned the lion zord around and slammed it into Scorpina just as Adam let go of the whip he had on her, causing her to whirl around before landing hard on the ground.

"Crane zord coming in," Kat declared. She pulled her zord around in an arch and sent out blasts of energy bolts down onto the three monsters while Tommy came in on the other side, sending out missiles. The attacks shot towards Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina with Billy, Avalon, and Bailey moving their zords out of the way in just enough time to keep from getting heavily damaged as well.

The rangers all came together, watching as Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina were caught up in the sudden rush of flame and energy from the combined attacks. "Great job, guys, it looks like we've got them now," Tommy declared. "Move in close and make sure they can't get away."

"Oh, we don't want to get away," Scorpina's voice said in a slow, psychotic drawl. The rangers watched as the golden monster slowly pulled herself from the smoke, now in her scorpion form. But it was different this time, along with her gold plates; there were purple and black swirls that pulsed with light. "We want you to get closer!" With that, the swirls on her gold plates suddenly pulsed as if with a heartbeat and a wave of dark energy shot off of her and rammed into the rangers.

In seconds their zords all emanated high pitched sounds as the cockpits went dark. The different animals then let out loud cries before ejecting the rangers out onto the ground, de-morphing as they did so. It had only taken one blast from Scorpina's new energy source to defeat them and as the rangers looked at each other in disbelief, they could see the monsters appeared to not have a scratch on them.

"We have to get back to the Command Center," Aisha said, rolling onto her side. "We can't…we can't stay here. There's nothing we can do."

"There's always something we can do," Tommy corrected her. "But you're right, the best thing to do right now is get back to the Command Center and regroup. Zordon and Alpha may have come up with something that can help us." The rangers lifted their communicators and teleported to the Command Center. One they arrived they found Fred, Jason and Alpha sitting on the floor, facing their direction. "Jason, Fred, Alpha, are you guys okay?" He asked.

Getting no response, Bailey started towards her boyfriend. "Fred, what's going on?" She asked.

Fred's eyes shifted behind her and she stopped in her tracks and turning around. She let out a light gasp, which prompted the rest of the rangers to turn as well and watch as Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd walked out of the shadows, their staves all pointed towards them. The rangers fell into a fighting stance, despite having just been easily defeated by the other monsters in Angel Grove.

"This guy must be Master Vile," Avalon said, holding her fists up by her face. She eyed him up and down. "He's as bloody ugly as the rest of them, so it makes sense."

"How did you get into the Command Center?" Adam added.

Master Vile didn't respond, instead, he walked around the rangers, eying them up and down for a few moments. It took a couple of seconds for him to note the sound of an alarm going off, causing his eyes to light up. "Yes! The Zeo Crystals! I knew you had them! Fork them over and no one else gets hurt."

Aisha exchanged a glance with the red ninja ranger before turning back to Master Vile, doing her best to keep up her tough exterior. But this man was much more intimidating than Rita and Zedd, especially if this monster was the one calling all of the shots with Rita and Zedd working underneath him. "We don't have them! How did you get in here?" She repeated.

"Hand over the Zeo Crystals and no one gets hurt," Zedd said. He paused then let out a vicious laugh. "No more hurt than the pain we've already inflicted upon you."

"We already told you, we don't have them," Rocky said. He pointed at the three of them. "You better get going or else we're going to send you back to where you came from. To the Moon and straight on through to outer space."

"That's tough talk coming from a weakened ranger," Rita declared. She then pouted and turned towards Master Vile. "Daddy, do we have to destroy them? It'd be so fun to continue torturing them until they break. It's fun to watch their spirit break."

"No, my dear," Master Vile replied. "They're just like everyone else we've come across. A waste of space. If they don't have the Zeo Crystal then we have no use for them."

"You'll never get away with this, Master Vile," Zordon declared.

"It seems like we already have!" Master Vile, Zedd, and Rita all lifted their staves and pointed it towards the rangers as they started to glow with an ominous energy.

Before they could attack the rangers there was a sudden bright flash of light that seemed to come from within the chests of the rangers. Tommy, Kat, Avalon, Billy, Rocky, Aisha, Bailey, and Adam all looked down as the bright glow continued to shine from in front of them. As they watched the glowing continued to increase in brightness before something appeared in the middle of the light. They moved from in front of each other to a few feet in front of the group, coming together to create one large shape that reflected a magnificent brilliance of rainbow colors. The rangers all glanced at each other as they simultaneously understood what it was hovering in front of them.

"The Zeo Crystals," Fred breathed.

"They were inside them the whole time," Jason added.

"And now they're ours!" Master Vile declared. He, Rita, and Zedd all lifted their staves and, at the same time, they sent for a blast of energy that shot towards the rangers and the Zeo Crystal that hovered in front of them. The attack collided with the Zeo Crystal and there was an immense explosion of energy.

The explosion rocked through the Command Center, cracking the ground beneath the rangers' feet and sent them plummeting into darkness.


	45. Cloudy Skies

**Chapter 45**

_Cloudy Skies  
_

* * *

Tanya darted behind a dumpster, watching as a horde of Tengas rushed by, ushering the captive humans they found down towards the fountain that resided in the center of Angel Grove Park. Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina stood atop the fountain, watching as the feathery monsters continued to bring in more and more Angel Grove residents to their capture. She watched helplessly, waiting for the chance to come out of hiding and get back to the house. All she had wanted to do was get some sleep, to rest up so that she could get a good tour of Angel Grove. Then there had been the massive explosion-like thunder that had woken up her.

She scrambled over to the window and watched in awe as the sky darkened; painted with an absolute blackness she had never seen before. Then there had been the sirens, which startled her badly enough her heart hammered in her throat and she jerked away from the window. Was that the evacuation warning Aisha had told her about? She turned to call for Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, to see what to do, freezing when she heard the sound of a loud crash and some sort of commotion coming from downstairs. Aisha hurried off of the bed and raced towards the stairs. She started down them but caught sight of what appeared to be a humanoid bird and threw herself back atop the stairs.

"What was that?" Came a squawking voice. "Is there anyone else here? I thought the house empty!"

"Well, go check it out!" Another voice answered.

Fearing for her life, Tanya quickly raced into Aisha's room and looked around for a place to hide. The closet and under the bed were too obvious, even those feather brains would be able to find her within a moment's notice. But there was no other place to hide. Turning towards the window, she glanced at the three that rested outside the window, hesitating. She screamed at the sound of the door being kicked open behind her and found Tengas quickly moving her way. "What are you? What do you want?" She demanded, backing towards the window.

"We're here to take you under Master Vile's control!" One of the Tengas cried, reaching for her. "Now, are you going to come quietly or are we going to have to—!"

"No!" Tanya reached out and shoved the Tenga in the chest, knocking it into its companion and the two fell to the ground. She turned and threw herself at the window, pulling it open as quickly as she could. She started to climb out, reaching for the branches that stretched towards her and risked a glance over her shoulder at the Tengas.

They struggled to disengage themselves from each other and popped back to their feet. "You idiot!" The smaller one shoved the bigger one aside. "You're not supposed to give her a choice; you're just supposed to grab her!"

"Quit squawking and start grabbing!"

Tanya flung herself out onto the branch, letting out a grunt as her stomach crash landed on the wood and shimmied down the tree as quickly as she could, the Tengas shooting out the window and flew around her, pecking at her hands and face, trying to get her to let go. She finally managed to get to the lower branches and dropped herself to the ground. The Tengas landed on the ground around her and grabbed onto her arms. Tanya lowered her head and tried to pull her arms out of their grasp but found that she was stuck. Finally, she jumped as hard as she could and lifted her feet, bringing herself down onto her back. The Tengas, who continued to hold their deathlike grip on her, landed hard on their backs, combined with the forceful punch of Tanya's fists, and let go of their grasps as they wiggled back and forth on the ground.

Then she had run as fast as she could, barely making it to downtown Angel Grove without being detected. Now she had no idea where else to go. There were Tengas all over the place, the sky was exploding with lightning, and there didn't seem to be anyone that was helping them. Even with firefighters and police officers were doing nothing more than trying to evacuate as many people as they could, hoping not to be caught by the monsters that were running around. If the police couldn't help them, she didn't know who or what would.

"Now that we've taken care of the rangers, the rest of Angel Grove is ours!" Goldar declared, swinging his sword around in the air. "Now Master Vile can show his rule throughout the rest of the Earth."

"And we'll be there to experience their spoils," Scorpina agreed. She threw her arms around Goldar's waist and smiled up at him. "Oh, this is the best day of my life. Death, destruction…and I get to spend it with you. I'm glad to be back."

"It's good to be back!" Goldar added.

"Oh brother, I think I'm going to barf!" Rito declared, shaking his head. "And I smell like a dump truck. If I don't barf from my own stench but can from you two, you know it's bad!"

Tanya watched as Rito jumped off the lip of the fountain and walked over to a group of residents that clung together in front of them. He laughed as they screamed and turned away from him, shielding their faces, eyes clenching shut as tightly as they could. He brought his arm back and slashed it forward. Tanya shut her eyes as she heard the sound of tortured screams and the three monster's laughter over top it.

All of a sudden a hand landed on her shoulder and she started to let out a startled scream, but stopped once a hand was placed over her mouth and a frantic 'shhhh' was whispered into her ear. The African teen whirled around to find an Asian teen crouching down behind her. She continued to hold her hand on Tanya's mouth, waiting for her to calm down. "I'm not going to hurt you," She whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I…" Tanya whispered back. She brought her hand up to her mouth and covered it for a moment before removing it once more. "I….what's going on? Aisha…she warned me that there were monster attacks and stuff out here, I thought she was kidding. Does this happen everywhere in the US?"

"Not that we're aware of," the girl replied with a light smile. She then focused on what Tanya had just said to her. "Wait, Aisha? Do you know Adam and Rocky, too?"

"No. Well, sort of. Aisha's wrote me letters about her friends. I haven't met any of them yet. I think she mentioned an Adam. I'm sorry; I'm just so confused about what's going on." She ran her hands over her face and looked the girl up and down. "Who are you?"

"My name's Sabrina."

"I'm Tanya."

"I'd like to say it's nice to meet you, Tanya, but under these circumstances…" Sabrina's eyebrows twitched upwards for a seconds. She grabbed onto Tanya's arm and started to pull her. The African teen allowed herself to get pulled to her feet and the two slipped around the wall of the building they were kneeling in front of. "We can't stay here, they'll find us. We have to get going."

"But where can we go?" Tanya ran after Sabrina, moving her legs as quickly as he could to keep up with the other girls' long stride. "These feathered freaks are everywhere."

"I don't know where, but we have to keep moving."

Tanya planted her feet on the ground to stop herself. "But we have to help all of those people," she declared. "We can't just leave them there! They're being attacked! They're hurt!" She regarded Sabrina with wide eyes as the girl turned back towards her, looking over her shoulder as she did so. "There must be something we can do."

"Right now, we have to be sure we're not captured as well," Sabrina pointed out. "Or there won't be anyone that can help them."

Frowning, Tanya followed along behind he girl as they raced away from the fountain area. She kept pace with Sabrina the best she could, but with each step she took, she could feel a tingling sensation. It started in her feet before slowly moving up her legs to her knees, then up to her chest, down her arms to her fingertips, before it covered her whole body. Tanya slowed once more and looked down at her fingertips, running them against each other. Her eyes widened when she saw little jolts of yellow light rolling around her fingers and up her palms in rolling waves. She opened her mouth to call out to Sabrina, but there was a sudden overwhelming tingling that erupted in her stomach and a flash of light.

Hearing a strange cracking sound, Sabrina turned around to call for Tanya to duck in cover, lest there be a streak of lightning to hit the ground, and found that Tanya was gone. She blinked in surprise and looked around.

How could she have disappeared so fast?

* * *

It was dark. It was dusty. And his ears were ringing. _Thankfully,_ Tommy realized, _that means I'm alive._ He pushed himself to his knees, coughing as a cloud of dust settled into his lungs. Everything hurt, but a quick inventory of his arms and legs showed that he wasn't hurt as badly as he had originally though. No broken bones, no sprains, but he could feel a scratch on the side of his head with drying blood leaking from it. He shook his head, his long hair flipping around his face, but found that the ringing continued.

Swiping a hand over his face, Tommy stood up and turned around, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Shifting his gaze, he found tiny shafts of light peeking in through the ceiling and tilted his head back to see rocks covering where the floor of the Command Center used to be. The blast from Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd must've been stronger than they thought, he reasoned, if he could see light. It must've blew open the top of the Command Center as well as blowing them down through the floor.

Now the problem was finding his friends.

The white ninja ranger ran his hands along the legs of his jeans and turned around. Shadows lined the walls around him, hiding what would be an obvious opening from him. "Hello?"

His voice echoed along the rocky walls and came back to him. A shiver went down his spine. His voice sounded so uncertain, so scared. But that was true, he couldn't find his friends, Alpha and Zordon appeared to be nowhere, and two of his strongest enemies just managed to destroy everything he knew for the past couple of years. He wasn't even sure if he could morph anymore, let alone if the morphin grid of the Command Center was still linked to him.

All of a sudden he heard a low sound, almost like a cat meowing, and fell into a fighting stance. He may not able to morph, but he still had the instinct to fight whenever danger came his way. Eyes shifting back and forth, he listened as he suddenly came into the sounds of footsteps coming near him. Then they were far away. It took a second for him to realize they were moving around him in a circle.

"Who's there?" He demanded.

"Scared of the dark, are we, Tommy?" Rita asked as she slowly stepped out from the shadows. He glared at her before his gaze swept to the side, falling onto Kat, who shared Rita's smirk.

"Kat?" He gaped at her. "What are you…?" Then he spotted the familiar red gleam in her eye and tightened his fists even further. "What have you done to her, Rita?"

"Nothing that hadn't been done already," Rita pointed out. She turned her magic wand over to the pink ninja ranger. "I've always had a hand in what she decides to do, sort of like her guardian." She turned back to Tommy and her smirk faded, turning to an expression of pure fury. "I've lost my ranger once before, I'm not going to lose another one."

Tommy then turned back to Kat, who continued to stare at him. "Kat, this isn't you," he pleaded. "She still has her hold on you. But you can break it, you've broken it before." He reached out and tapped his hand against his chest. "You're one of us. You're a ranger. You're not a monster."

"Attack my little cat!" Rita declared

With an animalistic cry, Kat leaped forward and started to swing her arms towards Tommy. The white ninja ranger immediately rolled out of the way, moving across the ground on his shoulders, and came up into a crouch once more. Hissing, Kat turned and leapt towards him once more. And again, Tommy rolled out of the way. This was going to be easy enough, he realized. Kat didn't have a lot of experience fighting to know how to put together a combination of moves that would keep the other person on the defensive, tiring them out easier, she also didn't have the same sense of ingenuity he had when it came to knowing the other person's moves ahead of time. As her luck would have it, not only was she inexperienced, but it showed in her attack that massively relied on the offence with wild punches and kicks.

Tommy easily evaded one blow after the other all the while trying to get the pink ninja ranger's attention. "Kat! You don't want to do this!" He called to her.

"Don't listen to him, finish him off!" Rita cried.

"You're mine, ranger!" Kat declared. She leapt high and kicked Tommy in the chest, knocking him onto his back. She landed on the ground next to him and quickly moved to straddle his waist. Lifting her hands she reached out and punched towards his face, but he rolled his head to the side and her fist connected with the ground. She let out a screech of pain and Tommy grabbed onto her shoulders and flung her off him. She skidded along the ground and brought her hand up, rubbing the back of it. "You're going to pay for that!"

 _I hope I do._ Tommy thought. He readied himself as Kat turned his way once more and raced towards him. Tommy held his ground in front of her and at the last second dove to the side. It was just what he wanted, Kat had only been paying attention to attacking Tommy and hadn't noticed he positioned himself in front of Rita. Kat's momentum had been too great and she found herself careening into the space witch, knocking her to the ground within seconds, causing her to lose her grip on her magic wand.

It scattered across the ground.

Rita screamed in fury. "You oaf! You brat! Look what you've done."

Tommy leapt forward and grabbed onto the magic wand as he propelled himself back to his feet. "Your reign over her is over, Rita!" He declared and brought his arms back, tightening his grip on the staff of the wand and swung it forward.

"NO!" Rita screamed.

The red jewel on Rita's staff smashed against the rock wall, ruby-like pieces glittered across the ground. Rita's screams continued to swirl around the caves as Tommy dropped the magic wand with a light clanging sound. He turned back towards Kat and watched as she brought her hand to her forehead and gazed at him in confusion.

"Tommy?" She asked. "What happened? What's going on? The last thing I remember…Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile had tried to destroy us." She looked over to find Rita on the ground, still howling in fury. The red ninja ranger went over to her and grabbed onto her arm.

"We don't have time to worry about that now," he said to her. "We have to find the others." He pulled Kat to her feet and glanced around the clearing once more. "If I knew where to go." As soon as the last word came out of his mouth, there was a bright flash of red and pink light and a panel to their left side started to rise, revealing a metallic hallway.

Tommy and Kat exchanged and awed glance. "I guess this is the sign we're looking for," she said to him. He nodded back and the two glanced over at Rita once more before hurrying into the hallway, the panel sliding shut behind them.

* * *

Billy pressed his back against the rock wall, trying to steady his breath. He could hear footsteps on the other side, creeping closer and closer to him by the second. Whoever it was had been following him since the floor had given way and they all crashed to the ground. He had been knocked out for a few moments, probably ten minutes by his estimate. Within that time he was slightly worried that he hadn't dreamed about anything. Even the times he had been knocked out while rangering he had dreamed about _something,_ swirls, stars, the monster they were fighting, his family and friends.

This time. Nothing.

Yet he was very aware of a presence haunting him so that he awoke with a jolt, adrenaline rushing to alert him there was someone or something stalking him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Then he had started to run with no way of knowing where he was going. Each and every turn he took was a maze that took him deeper into the caverns he was trapped within. He knew running wasn't the best strategy, but having realized that the morphin grid had been compromised he wasn't able to morph. Not to mention the damage they had already sustained when fighting Rito, Goldar, and Zedd before they had teleported back to the Command Center. He could still feel his wolf spirit within him, giving him peace of mind that Dulcea has been truthful regarding their presence within them.

"Come out come out wherever you are, little ranger," he could hear Zedd's voice growl. "I don't care who you are, you're going to be destroyed anyway. I've dealt with you power brats enough, you've been running my plans for far too long. Now that the Zeo Crystals are down here somewhere, I need to be sure I get to them first. No one is going to stand in my way!"

The blue ninja ranger held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut, listening to Zedd come closer. The only option he had at the moment was to try and attack Zedd, using it as a distraction to get as far away as he possible could. _But this guy isn't name the Emperor of Darkness for nothing._ Steeling himself, he clenching his hands into fists and darted out from behind the cave wall. Zedd's back was turned to him. He took a few steps forward and jumped high, kicking Zedd in the back. He landed on his feet as the red humanoid monster turned, looking for the source of the kick. Billy moved around to Zedd's front and took the opportunity to punch Zedd in the side of the face, then kicked him in the chest as well.

Zedd whipped back around and started to glow bright red. He tightened his metallic grip along his Z-Staff and turned back towards the blue ninja ranger. "You must have a death wish, you puny power ranger!" He snarled.

Billy tightened his grip, keeping his gaze steady on Zedd. If this had been when he had first turned into a ranger, he would've been terrified to see Lord Zedd up close. Now he had all of the confidence in the world under his belt and would give his life if he had to keep Zedd from getting to the Zeo Crystals and his friends.

Zedd must've sensed it for he lowered his Z-Staff. "You're not afraid of me," he stated.

"No, I'm not," Billy agreed. "I haven't been afraid of you for a long time."

"It's a shame," Zedd sighed lightly. "I do so enjoy watching my victims beg and scream for mercy before I dispose of them. Though…I suppose it may be because your heart is already filled with a sort of darkness. It must be tough not knowing you're not destined to get one of those Zeo Crystal's."

The blue ninja ranger faltered for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the Zeo Crystals are only for those who are pure of heart, and you're the last that I would determine as that," Zedd continued. Billy continued to stare at him. "I can see the darkness swimming through your heart just as much as I can see it around your aura. It has been there ever since Diabolico and my dear lovely wife made waste of your mother. Only you haven't known it. Tell me." He took a step closer towards Billy. "How long has it been since your mother's life was vanquished right before your very eyes? How long have you been holding in everything that has been plaguing you since that day?"

"Stop it," Billy managed to say through gritted teeth.

"It must be so painful for you to have not been able to help her."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"To have to sit there and watch because you were too worried about giving up your precious identity. You couldn't even do that for the woman that gave birth to you. Who doted on you hand and foot as you grew up and would give her own life for you; and you wouldn't do the same for her." Zedd watched as Billy slowly lowered his fists to his sides, his gaze lowering as he did so. A low growl of laughter came from Zedd's chest as he brought up his Z-staff and leveled it directly at Billy's heart. The tip started to crackle with blue electricity. "Goodbye, blue ranger!"

He charged the electricity up into a static ball at the end of his staff until it grew to an incredible size. Just as he was about to shoot it towards Billy, there was an almighty kick to his legs, knocking them out from underneath him accompanied by a tug at the end of his staff. The sudden forces caused Zedd to crash to the ground, losing his grip on the staff, sending the shot of electricity into the ceiling. With a growl, he turned around to find the orange ninja ranger with a tight grip on the end, crouched towards the floor as if she had just jumped atop of it when he was about to strike.

"Don't. Touch. My. Boyfriend!" Avalon declared.

"Oh it seems that the brainy blue ranger needs his puny orange girlfriend to save him," Zedd said. He tightened his grip on his staff and started to swing it around in all directions, bring the orange ranger with it as she clung on for dear life. She pulled back as hard as she could, before finding herself lifted off her feet and slammed into a wall behind her.

"Ava!" Billy cried, suddenly out of his stupor. He hurried over towards her as she was flung to the ground. He grabbed onto her and pulled her back against his chest as the two turned towards Lord Zedd.

The Emperor of Darkness slowly walked towards the two of them, holding the staff directly towards them. "No matter, I can get rid of the two of you for the price of one." He started to charge the staff up once more.

Billy reacted quickly and darted in front of Avalon, his back facing Zedd, and back kicked as hard as he could. The tip of Zedd's staff launched upwards and the blast he had been charging crashed into the ceiling with an almighty explosion. Zedd roared out in fury as the ground shook, a cracking sound filling the air. A boulder fell down from the ceiling and landed behind him seconds before other pieces of loose dirt and rocks fell.

Grabbing onto her arm, Billy pulled Avalon to her feet and the two raced out of the clearing and down the path laid out in front of them. They continued running, passing through a wall that glowed orange and opened, allowing them to retreat to safety.

* * *

"Hiya!"

Adam leap-frogged over Rocky's back and kicked Master Vile in the face, moving out of the way in time for Aisha to follow up with a strong punch to the villain's stomach. Rocky then concluded the combo with a spinning kick to the side of the monster's head. The three then backed away to see how Rita's father would combat the blows that were sent their way.

He laughed maliciously before bringing up his hand and sending a jolt of electricity their way. The three caught the blast in the stomach and screamed as the burning current flowed through their bodies like a river. They collapsed to the ground in a heap, struggling to get up as Master Vile stood above them. He reached out his foot and placed it on Rocky's side, rolling his over.

"I could've made that more painful," he said to them. "But I want to make this last for a while. I'm having fun." He pressed down on Rocky's stomach and the red ninja ranger let out a groan of pain. He reached to and wrapped his hands around Master Vile's ankle and tried to lift him off.

He couldn't morph, but that didn't mean he didn't still have his animal spirit.

The red ninja ranger could hear his inner ape screaming in effort as Rocky pushed Master Vile off of his chest. Once the monster stumbled back, having lost his balance, Adam followed it up with a series of quick jabs and uppercuts, thanks to the use of his frog ninja spirit. Once Master Vile was pressed against the wall behind him, Aisha brought her hand back and shoved it forward, crashing straight into Master Vile's chest. The force of the bear-influenced throw struck hard, forcing Master Vile to crash through the wall behind him. Dirt rained down around the hole and the three rangers continued towards him, leaping through the space after him.

"Don't get too close," Adam warned the two of them. "This guy has more power than Rita and Zedd combined."

"Which is what another strong round of attacks is for!" Rocky cracked his knuckles and started towards him, but stopped when Aisha slipped her hand over his wrist, holding him still.

"Adam's right," she said firmly. "We don't want to run into something we're not ready for."

"Something like this?" Master Vile's voice came back at them before they could sense where it was coming from. His power was stronger than any of them had anticipated as he copied himself, each one copy attacking Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. He grabbed the three of them by their throats, lifted them high into the air, and flung them across the clearing, causing them to crash into the surrounding walls.

The yellow ninja ranger tucked herself into a ball as she was flung, causing the momentum to slow, but she still managed to suffer damage as she came to a sudden halt with the rock wall. Landing hard on her stomach, she turned towards the Master Vile clone that came her way. Rolling onto her back, she did a kick-up to land on her feet and punched Master Vile as hard as he could. Instead, he shot another wave of electricity towards her, shooting her back onto the ground. Rocky and Adam tried doing the same, anything that would slow Master Vile down, but he continued to defeat them with a strong blow of attack within seconds.

The conqueror laughed as he came back together to his original form and stood in front of the three fallen rangers with a piteous shake of his head. "My my, defeated so easily. I thought after all these years of my dear daughter not being able to defeat you that there was something more than this to the story. You're nothing but puny slugs." He paused. "Which may not say much for Rita and Zedd if I'm barely putting up a fight against you two and I'm defeating you so easily."

The yellow ninja ranger shook her head, shifting to look at Rocky and Adam, her best friends for as long as he could remember. Even as the three of the sat fallen amongst each other, they were doing their best to protect each other from harm. It was then she knew how much she was going to miss them both dearly once she was gone.

"We're not giving up that easily," Adam declared getting back to his feet.

"Yeah, we'll never let you win," Rocky agreed.

Aisha looked up at her friends before standing along with them. She sucked in a deep breath and stood alongside them as well. "We'll keep fighting until we have nothing left to fight for." She looked up at her friends and back to Master Vile then nodded.

Master Vile tilted his head back and let out a light sigh. "Well, that's no fun," he remarked and blasted them with a shot of electricity once more. "This isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be. I guess it's time to kill you now." He picked up his staff and shot a blast of energy towards the rangers. Like last time, however, there was a bright flash of light, this time blue and green that caused the shot blast to ricochet back into him. Master Vile was launched backwards and crashed along the ground as the blue and green light continued to illuminate around them.

A panel at the side of the clearing opened, continuing to be illuminated in the two colors of light and the rangers quickly ran through it. They raced along the corridor, Aisha glancing behind her to see the panel slide back into place, and followed it until they skidded to a stop, looking around the open space.

"What the?" Aisha started to say, her mouth dropped open.

"Ay yi yi! They're all safe!" Alpha declared. He turned to face the back of the room. "Zordon, they're all here!"

"What's going on?" Rocky demanded.

"There's no time to explain, rangers," Zordon interrupted. "There is too much at stake. If there is a move that's going to be made, it has to be made now."

* * *

Bailey moved out from behind the control panel she, Fred, and Jason stood at and hurried over towards her sister once she and Billy came flying into the clearing. Avalon grabbed onto the purple ninja ranger and the sisters hugged each other tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," the orange ninja ranger replied. She brushed her hair behind her ears and turned towards the stunned teenage girl that stood in the corner of the room, appearing to be in complete awe. "Who's that?"

"She's—"Bailey didn't get a chance to answer for within the next few moments the rest of the rangers came into the opening of the room.

"Whoa!" Tommy cried once he got a good look at the room. He spun around in a quick circle, his eyes landing on Alpha and Zordon. "How did…when did…"

"It's a long story, man," Jason said to him, grabbing his attention.

"And not one that we have a lot of time to explain," Fred agreed. Bailey nodded in agreement once Billy turned his attention towards her. The purple ninja ranger had been nothing short of surprised when she had found that having fallen through the floor placed her directly in the middle of what appeared to be the Command Center. Having come to, she looked around to find Fred and Jason had fallen down there with her. Alpha had immediately trotted over to the three of them, helping them to their feet.

"Ay yi yi, are you okay?" Alpha asked, hovering over the three of them. "I'm sorry that the drop was so far, once we created this place, Zordon and I didn't think the first time you would come in here would be through the roof."

"Wait a minute." Fred held up a hand. "Created? You knew this place was here?"

Alpha nodded. "Zordon and I knew there was to be a point when the powers of evil were too strong. So we created another Command Center underground, so that they wouldn't be able to find us or destroy our links with the morphing grid. However, throughout the explosion, your old powers were lost."

"Lost?" Jason repeated. "Does that mean they can't morph again?" He leaned heavily against a control panel, holding onto his side, wincing every now and then as he breathed too deeply. "Does that mean there are no more power rangers?" He turned around at the sound of someone teleporting and his eyebrows furrowed together when Tanya landed in front of them.

Bailey's eyes widened. _Great,_ she thought. _Someone else who knows our secret._ She motioned for the girl to move closer to her. "Who are you?" She asked. "How did you get here?"

"My name's Tanya Sloan," the girl replied quickly. "I was…I was captured downtown by these bird monsters…I have no idea how I got here." She paused and looked around. "Or where 'here' is. Where am I? Where are we?"

"All of those questions will be answered in time," Zordon said as he slid into the power chamber at the corner of the expansive room. "Right now we need to determine where the rangers are. Fred, please bring up the map of the interlocking caves."

"You got it," Fred said. He moved up to Bailey said and glanced over the buttons on the control panel. He pressed a few and the two glanced up to see the screen that sat across the wall changed from a view of Angel Grove to a map of the caves. They could see little dots moving closer and closer to them. It didn't take long for them to all come into the Power Chamber. All of the rangers started asking questions at once and she only managed to get a word in edge-wise when Aisha spoke up.

"What the?" Aisha started to say, her mouth dropped open.

"Ay yi yi! They're all safe!" Alpha declared. "Zordon, they're all here!"

"What's going on?" Rocky demanded.

"There's no time to explain, rangers," Zordon interrupted. "There is too much at stake. If there is a move that's going to be made, it has to be made now."

Then Aisha' gaze landed on Tanya and the two girls' eyes widened as they got a good look at each other. "Aisha?" "Tanya?" They hurried across the room to each other, asking questions at a mile a minute, many times asking the same one at the same time.

"Zordon." Kat's speaking up caught the rangers' attention and they turned back towards their mentor. "What's going on?"

"As was our greatest fear, the powers of evil have managed to invade our Command Center. Within their attack they compromised the powers of good and our previous power chamber has been lost," Zordon explained. "But Alpha and I have anticipated a chance of this happening and have worked to create a backup Command Center if needed. Unfortunately we didn't think it would be as soon as it has shown to be. All the same, it has caused the showing of the Zeo Crystal a lot sooner than we thought possible."

"So you knew the Zeo Crystals were inside us?" Adam asked.

"Like you all, we had no idea where the Zeo Crystals were residing and were just as surprised as you were when it came to show that it was inside you rangers," Alpha explained.

"Rangers?" Tanya repeated. "Like Power Rangers?"

"Exactly. However the power rangers that Aisha may have mentioned to you are no longer and only the Zeo Rangers will take its place. The power of these rangers are held by the Zeo Crystal that continue to increase in strength as time passes. Thus making the rangers stronger as time passes as well." As Zordon finished speaking there was a bright flash of light and the Zeo Crystal emerged once more, shining a rainbow of colors. As it did so, it broke apart into six pieces and shot around the Command Center to hover over Kat, Tanya, Rocky, Adam, Avalon, and Tommy's heads, all glowing the respective colors of pink, yellow, blue, green, orange, and red. "The Zeo Crystal, as you all know, is only accessible by those that are of pure heart."

Bailey frowned as she heard the words, briefly glancing over her head. She looked over at Billy and noticed he had the same expression of confusion on her face, and then he turned away. She then looked at Aisha who appeared to have been ready for what Zordon had been saying to her. Then her gaze landed on Tanya once more. _Of course,_ the now former ranger thought as she took in the African teen's appearance. _She is wearing yellow. _

"With the cry of 'power rangers zeo' you will now morph into the Zeo Power Rangers. These new powers come new colors for you," Alpha added. "Katherine, you are now Zeo Ranger 1, Pink. Tanya is Zeo Ranger 2, Yellow. Rocky is Zeo Ranger 3, Blue. Adam is Zeo Ranger 4, Green. Avalon is Zeo Ranger 5, Orange. And Tommy is now Zeo Ranger 6, Red."

"Zeo Rangers? Powers?" Tanya repeated. She shook her head. "I just…I don't get it."

"Don't worry, you will," Aisha reassured her. She reached out and grabbed onto Tanya's hands, squeezing them tightly. "If you're as an amazing person as I know you are, then you'll do a great job."

Tanya smiled and nodded her thanks.

"Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile are within the caves while Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito are attacking the residents of Angel Grove," Alpha said. "You have to go now and use your new Zeo Powers to defeat them and send them back to the Lunar Palace."

"What about Billy and Bailey and Aisha?" Avalon asked.

Bailey's breath caught in her throat and she forced a smile at her sister. "We'll be fine, Sis. You go do what you need to do." She looked over at Billy and he nodded.

"May the power protect you," Zordon bid.

"We can do this Zordon," Tommy reassured him. "Don't worry." He looked over at his teammates old and new and nodded to them. "It's Morphin' time!" Tommy declared, then his friends joined in. "Power Rangers, Zeo!"


	46. Calm Winds

**Chapter 46**

_Calm Winds_

* * *

Bulk and Skull led a group of civilians away from the street and into an empty office building, closing and locking the doors behind them. The two of them looked around to be sure the civilians they managed to bring in to safety weren't injured. Bulk placed his hands on his hips as he scanned the group; Sharkie, who had stuck by their side since the attacks first started, stood by the front doors, keeping watch to see if the monsters were coming for them anytime soon, Sabrina sat at the side of the group trying to keep the little kids that were crying as calm as possible, and Ellie Mitchell paced back and forth.

Taking her arm, he pulled her aside for a moment. "Ms. Mitchell, I'm sure Avalon and Bailey are doing everything they can to make sure these monsters are going to be taken care of," he muttered under his breath. "I'm sure they and the other rangers are working hard to take care of us like they always do."

"This is different," Ellie replied, glancing over her shoulder to be sure no one was listening to their conversation. "This is a different kind of attack that's been done before."

"You're right," Skull agreed. "It is different. Those three monsters down there, they're stronger. They've done something to take over everyone in this city. The sky is blacker than anything I've ever seen with the attacks in this city." He cleared his throat. "There was an explosion somewhere in the desert that was heard before this all started." He shrugged for a moment. "And the rangers haven't been seen since then. Some people are already starting to lose hope that they're going to come save us."

Ellie sucked in a deep breath for a second. She turned her head away and looked around at the sea of people that sat on the floor of the office building, as far away from the windows as they could. She tilted her head back and ran her hands over her face, suddenly overcome with worry, anxiety, and everything that a mother felt when her children were in danger. This was what she had wanted to avoid when she first learned about her not-husband sending them off to California, that there was some trouble her daughters would get into that she wouldn't be able to protect them from. It had devastated her to find out about Avalon and the Vipers…but knowing that she and Bailey had managed to fall into a great group of people and end up taking on the powers to protect the city also made her immensely proud.

"What do you think?" Ellie asked the two of them.

Bulk thought for a moment, running through every encounter he had with the power rangers in his head. There had been so many, nearly one a day, two if there was a real opportunity to take over the city. There had also been many times where he and Skull had come up close and personal to the monsters that had been sent down to do…whatever it was they were trying to do. Half of them he was a bit confused as to their purpose, others he didn't remember whether or not he had encountered them and chalked it up to having been put under a spell or something. However, every time a monster popped up, the power rangers were there for him and the rest of the residents to rely on. That's why he had been so into figuring out who they were, to satisfy his own curiosities, but to thank them in person as well. He could keep a secret, and managed to once he and Skull had figured out their identities. _Though, it's not really that great of a secret,_ he reminded himself. _If we had managed to figure it out, it shouldn't be that difficult for anyone else to do as well. The monsters clearly know who they are, from all of the carefully crafted attacks._

"I think they'll get here when they can," Skull broke into Bulk's thoughts. "Not only have they not let us down before, but they've done as much as they could to protect all of us. When they had to leave the planet, leaving us behind to fend against Ivan Ooze, they came back. But in that time, we, as a city, figured out that we can take care of whatever comes our way and if we have to do that, we'll do it until they come back." Bulk nodded over at Skull and the two turned back to Ellie, who listened carefully to what the two of them had to say.

"And don't worry," Bulk added. He motioned to the gun that was holstered to his waist. "We'll protect everyone in this room if it ever needs to be done."

Sharkie turned away from the door and went back over to Bulk and Skull. "It doesn't look like those guys out there know that we're here," she said to them. "There isn't anyone out there in the streets. I don't know what it is they're planning, but it seems that we're safe here." She looked back and forth between Bulk and Skull. "That was really quick thinking, guys. You got a lot of people here safely."

He couldn't help it, Bulk always felt a little bit embarrassed whenever someone praised him. He was an officer with the AGPD it was his job to help as many citizens as he could when the time came. He, Sharkie, and Skull had been at their house, helping Sharkie move her things in when they had gotten the call on the radio about the attacks going on within the city. Then they had seen that the sky had darkened to an ungodly black color, lightning starting to shoot from the sky, and immediately realized that it was something more than the normal attacks that had happened. They had originally intended to leave Sharkie behind, but she had insisted to go along with them. It had been a good idea, especially as Tengas had broken into the house and started to capture them.

Bulk and Skull reacted quickly by drawing their gun and shot at the monsters until they raced out of the house. Then the three had leapt into their squad car and raced to downtown Angel Grove, where Lt. Stone had instructed them to go. They arrived just in time to find hordes of civilians being taken captive by the Tengas, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina. They watched as their fellow officers were taken down, knocked back by the blows the monsters shot back at them. Then they had heard their decree that they were now taken under control by the Zedd, Rita, and whoever Master Vile was. The Earth was being taken over; they were finally going on what their plans were.

Then he had seen the civilians that had been hiding, doing their best to keep from getting taken by the Tengas and they immediately rounded them up, taking in whomever they could find, before leading them to safety. Now they had to make sure they kept those people safe.

"It's our jobs," Bulk finally replied.

"Where are the power rangers?" Came the first accusatory shot their way. Bulk turned around to find a tall man staring at them. "It's _their_ job to protect us as much as you guys do. They're supposed to be here to protect us."

"They've abandoned us!" Another voice cried, belonging to a woman hugging her children to herself.

"The Power Rangers wouldn't do that," a different man shot back. "They care about us just as much as we care about them."

"Then where are they? Why aren't they doing anything?"

They all started to shout over top of each other, trying to be heard, to get their opinion over their plight out into the air. Bulk and Skull glanced at each other, overwhelmed from the wave of shouting that came their way. Ellie held up her hands, trying to get their attention, but the woman's voice was easily drowned out by the surge of civilians moving towards them, pressing in on them from all sides.

Skull climbed up onto the receptionist desk beside him and whistled loudly. "Hey!" He shouted, getting their attention. "I know you're all scared," he said to them, trying to keep his voice steady. "I know some of you are hurt, some of you have managed to get attacked by those monsters before we got you to safety. I know you're worried if the Power Rangers are going to come get and attack us." He held his hands out. "It doesn't look like they're here right now, but you have to have faith in them. They've done nothing but protect us time and time again without a thank you. They don't need that recognition and don't _want_ that recognition. They do it out of the bottoms of their hearts, for all of us. So that we could all be safe. And now you're turning your back on them because they're not coming to our rescue as quickly as you want? They don't deserve that."

He licked his lips, sweeping his gaze around the room, taking in the silence that came with it. "I'm just as scared as you are. But I'm not going to give up. I'm going to help protect this city, too. And if anyone wants to help me, that's great. If not, I'm going to do my best to protect you all until the rangers get here."

"Me too," Bulk agreed. "That's what we signed up for when we joined the Angel Grove Police Department; we live by that agreement and I'm not going to turn my back on any of you." As if to prove his point, he cocked his gun and moved towards the door, facing the street. Skull moved by his side and the two watched out the front door of the office building.

No one was going to get by them.

* * *

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!" Kat called and morphed into her new pink suit with a power source all her own. This time the visor her helmet held the shape of an oblong oval.

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!" Tanya called and using her newfound powers morphed into the yellow Zeo Ranger suit with the visor in the shape of two ovals stack on top of each other.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!" Rocky called and morphed into his new color, the blue Zeo Ranger helmet holding the shape of a triangle.

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!" Adam called and morphed into his new color, the visor on the green helmet holding the shape of a square.

"Zeo Ranger V, Orange!" Avalon's call came after a second of hesitation before she morphed into her orange suit with the shape of a heart as the visor.

"Zeo Ranger VI, Red!" Tommy called with gusto, ready to take on the new power source. His red Zeo Ranger suit morphed onto his body, complete with a visor that was in the shape of a star.

Once morphed, the rangers turned towards Zordon and waited for their next instructions. Zordon gazed down at the colorful warriors in front of him and smiled. "Rangers, now that you've tapped into the power of the Zeo Crystal, how do you feel?"

"Ready to kick some butt, Zordon," Rocky replied, clenching his gloved fist.

Aisha laughed quietly as she gazed at the rangers in front of her. It was going to be hard not working alongside them, especially knowing she wasn't within the color yellow anymore. Even though Tanya had morphed only seconds before, she suddenly felt foreign within her own yellow clothes. The outfits they had…while for some of the rangers were their favorite colors; the others fell into the pattern of wearing what was representative to their status on the power rangers team. It felt wrong to continue to wear the color of a ranger that was still on the team. Looking over at Billy, who stared intently at Rocky, a disturbed expression on his face, she could see it was bothering him as well. As was Bailey.

 _Why didn't those two get one?_ She thought to herself. _The crystals came out of them in the first place. Why aren't they pure of heart?_ She knew what was likely to be her reasoning of not getting the Zeo Crystal; her mind was set on leaving to go to Africa, and as it had been with Jason, Zack, Trini, and Kim, once you were to move away there was no means for you to continue your ranger duties. With time zone changes, having to make even more excuses, giving up a life that you had just left to go back time and time again. That was no life. She didn't have a pure heart to stay with the rangers due to her want to go to Africa.

But what about them?

"Yeah, just let us at Rita and Zedd," Tommy declared.

"Our sensors don't indicate that Rita, Zedd, or Master Vile are still around," Alpha said. "Not within our tunnel systems."

"There's no way that they ran scared," Avalon declared. "Not after so much time they put into trying to destroy us. Not when there's so much going on back in Angel Grove right now."

"Tommy has managed to destroy the gem on Rita's wand, thus breaking a link to her powers, Zedd and Master Vile have been hit by an impressive blast from the Zeo Crystals," Alpha explained, his hands waving around in excitement. "The Zeo Crystals are more powerful than any power source we've used before, including the ninja powers. It wasn't enough for them to handle."

"I shall now tell you about the latest threat to our galaxy. King Mondo is the Machine King, supreme ruler of the evil Machine Empire and his wife Queen Machina. They are part of the United Alliance of Evil and have set out to invade our galaxy. He has a son, Prince Sprocket, who is an eager heir to the Machine Empire. With them there are Clank and Orbus, footmen of the throne. Together they make up the leadership of the Machine Empire; they will stop at nothing until they control the entire universe."

"And Rita and Zedd are going to put up with that?" Fred asked.

"Not quite. The Machine Empire is so powerful that even Lord Zedd, Rita, and Master Vile has retreated fearing for their even existence. It is why they Master Vile arrived and attacked the Earth in the first place. They were aware of the Machine Empire coming to take their hand at taking over the galaxy and they wanted to get there first. Our solar system is the final link in a chain of galaxies already conquered by the empire."

"Rita and Zedd, gone?" Adam asked in disbelief.

"No way," Rocky said.

"Never thought I'd see the day, honestly," Jason remarked. Which was very truthful. Remembering the days their powers had first started; it appeared there was to be no end in sight. But the more and more people they got to join their team, the more people in on their secret, the easier things had been. He had been kidnapped and targeted by Rita, Goldar, and Zedd so many times that it had become habitual to him. Now with a new evil coming around, it was the end of a former era, one where he knew was to have little chance of return.

In essence; they had finally defeated Rita and Zedd.

"This must be really bad for them to run," Kat pointed out. She shook her head. "And the Machine Empire hasn't even arrived yet. This doesn't look good."

"And if they've already managed to take over other galaxies, and we're the only ones left standing in their way…" Billy placed his hands on his hips and started to pace back and forth along the floor of the Power Chamber. "That means once they've conquered us, they'll have it all. No one else can defeat them." He clenched his jaw and shook his head. Alpha walked over and placed his hand on his shoulder, comfortingly.

"You are correct, Billy," Zordon said matter-of-fact. "Quite literally, the future of the universe rests in your hands."

"Right now we can't worry about that," Bailey interrupted. She turned to the six rangers and nodded at them. "You have to save Angel Grove from Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina." Her mouth curled at the side. "And something tells me you have a better chance of defeating them this time around."

"I think you're right," Jason agreed.

He couldn't help the smile on his face as he looked at his friends standing before him. No matter who managed to stand in their way, he knew that the power rangers would do their best to save the city. And he would always be there to help them out whenever they needed him to. He may not be part of their legitimate team anymore, but these guys were the right ones chosen to go on with the next power source to fight against whatever evil came their way.

"You will have many new tools at your disposal; these will all be revealed in time. I am very proud of all of you. As power rangers you have served your planet well, but the power rangers as you have known them are gone forever." As Zordon spoke a light shone behind the rangers and they all turned to find what appeared to be protected cases along the wall. Within those cases held their former suits as the power rangers in its entirety. "In their place has emerged a new and more advanced fighting force. You have now become the power rangers Zeo, the next level in the fight against evil."

"This is the test of your new powers," Zordon concluded. "Good luck and May the power protect you."

"We'll help you out the best we can here," Billy declared.

"Yeah, we're always here with you guys," Aisha agreed.

"We got your backs," Fred said and Bailey nodded.

"Oh, please be careful rangers," Alpha said.

"You got it." Tommy gave them the thumbs up and looked around at his team of rangers. Once he was sure they were ready, he brought his hand to his belt and the group teleported out of the Power Chamber.

Bailey twisted her mouth to the side as she turned towards the viewing screen and watched the Zeo Rangers land in the center of downtown Angel Grove. It was weird not being with them anymore, but she knew they could do it.

* * *

Once arriving in downtown Angel Grove, Tommy took stock of what was going on. The first thing he noticed was the Tengas standing in a large circle around captive civilians. The second thing he noticed was Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito standing at the front of the group, torturing those that were closest to them, the sounds of the human's screams echoing along the empty streets. The third thing he noticed were his friends standing beside him with their different colors, showcasing their new set of powers.

They were ready.

"Look," a voice from the ground suddenly called. "It's the power rangers!"

All eyes turned towards him and his friends and he watched as Goldar turned his attention to them. His eyes glowed with a fiery rage and he lifted his sword into the air. "I thought you guys were finally destroyed!"

"No way, Goldar!" Tommy called back. He pointed towards the monsters that stood in front of him. "We're the power rangers and we don't give up without a fight. And if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you've got! Right guys?"

"Right!" Came the reply.

"Power Rangers Zeo!" The rangers then leapt off of the top of the building they were standing and right into the middle of the crowd. Tommy raced forward and leapt up, kicking Goldar in the face. Surprised, the gold monster stumbled backwards and Tommy followed up the attack with a judo sweep, knocking him over. Goldar got back to his feet and started to attack the Red Zeo Ranger once more.

"You're not going to win, Red Ranger!" Goldar declared. "Just because you've changed your color doesn't mean you're going to take us down."

"We've already taken down your leaders, now we're going to take you down!" Tommy held up his crossed arms and blocked the blow from Goldar's sword. Pushing back, he knocked Goldar off balance and struck him with a series of punches and kicks that ended in a high jump kick into Goldar and knocked him over once more.

Adam and Rocky teamed up against Scorpina, flanking her on either side. She lifted her sword and slashed towards one then would turn around and slash towards the other. But the blue and green rangers, encompassed by their new powers, would quickly move out of the way. Round and round they went with Scorpina's wild attack continuously missing them. Her increasing frustration made it so that she continued to miss her blows on the new Zeo Rangers. "Hold still!" She snapped.

"Okay!" Rocky agreed.

"You asked for it!" Adam said.

The two paused in their movements and glanced at each other before spinning around on their back heels and giving a roundhouse kick to the side of her head. Scorpina let out a cry of fury as she fell, slashing towards the ranger's legs, but they flipped over her and kicked her in the face once more, sending her onto her back.

With Rito, Avalon took the lead on the attack, being the most skilled fighter out of her, Kat, and Tanya. She used her instincts in street fighting to keep Rito from getting a good use of his bone sword against the three rangers. Kat and Tanya attacked behind her with Kat being a little more confident in her moves than the new yellow Zeo Ranger. With the yellow ranger's attack's she hesitated a moment before or with the follow through, making it easy for Rito knock her away. Brushing her off as if she were a mere bug that had accidentally landed on him. Kat, on the other hand was a little more difficult for him to work through; despite not being in many fights as a ninja ranger, she had the heart and the want to protect as many people as she could and aided in confusing Rito as the three female rangers raced around him, landing as many blows as they could.

Finally, the rangers all came together and started to attack the Tengas that surrounded them. With the Zeo Crystals in their possession, the Tengas didn't stand a chance against the newly formed rangers. Each punch and kick that the foot soldiers received sent them sprawling to the ground only moments before they turned tail and started to fly away as quickly as they could.

"Too bad we can't just get rid of these guys all together," Avalon commented. "They're so annoying." She picked up a handful of feathers off of the side of her helmet. "But at least we know they molt when they're scared, yeah?"

"Now for you three!" Tommy declared as they rangers converged upon Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina. "You don't have anyone to take care of you now."

"Other than us," Kat agreed.

"We're not going to let you take down our city," Rocky said.

"Or hurt the people we love," Adam added.

"So you better give up now," Tanya declared. The only thing that gave away her false sense of confidence was the tiny quiver in her voice.

"Or you'll have to deal with us!" Avalon finished.

The three monsters all glared at the rangers and gripped their swords tighter. They were ready for a fight. All of a sudden the monsters disappeared, teleporting in a rush of flame out of the center of the city. As they streaked towards the sky, probably called back by Rita and Zedd, the skies cleared. The darkened clouds swiftly moved away, the lightning stopped, and blue skies appeared before them. A roar of cheering came from the civilians that was left in the clearing as they stood up, clapping for the rangers now that they were safe.

The Power Rangers had come to save them again. More and more people streamed out of the stores and buildings surrounding them and started to clap and cheer along with the group. Bulk, Skull, Sabrina, Sharkie, and Ellie came out of the office building with the rest of their group and joined the group as well. Bulk and Skull stood to the side and gave the rangers a thumbs up. They appeared to be disheveled and with feathers poking off of them, it was proof they had worked hard to fight against the Tengas well.

The rangers turned and looked at the residents of Angel Grove and nodded before bringing their hands to their belts and teleporting back to the Power Chamber.

Once they arrived, they powered down and appeared back in their casual clothes before turning to each other and grinning. "Wow," Tanya gushed. "I didn't think…that was so…I don't think I can put it into words."

"You did a good job," Aisha said to her, coming up to her side. "I don't know anyone else I could pass the powers onto."

"We're glad to have you on the team, Tanya," Kat said, placing her hand not he yellow ranger's shoulder and squeezing it gently. The Australian teen flashed the African teen a smile and the new ranger smiled back.

"Zordon, those three may be gone, but…what does that mean for the Machine Empire?" Tommy asked, turning back to the serious conversation topic at hand. "And what about us? Why is it that these guys weren't able to get the Zeo Powers either? They're just as pure of heart as we are."

"The Machine Empire isn't going to be stopped just because you've showcased your powers for the first time," Alpha reminded him. "This is a long battle you'll have to face, to save your planet and the galaxy. To make sure they don't take over all of the galaxies within the universe. The United Alliance of Evil isn't something that should be taken lightly."

"As for Jason, Billy, Aisha, and Bailey," Zordon explained. "They are pure of heart, though there are differing circumstances that keeps them from having the pure of heart that the Zeo Crystal did not respond to."

"Huh?" Rocky tilted his head to the side. "I don't get it." Aisha let out a sigh as she took a step forward and his face cleared, understanding what it was she meant.

"Tanya was able to come to Angel Grove, to stay at my house, to come to our school…because she is part of a foreign exchange program," the former yellow ranger explained. She looked back and forth over the faces of her friends. "She's going to be here for a year…while I'll be going to Africa for a year. I'll be going over there next month." The rangers then understood why she was unable to receive the crystal. "I'm really excited to be going, but…I will miss you all."

"We're going to miss you too, Aisha," Adam said. "But it sounds like a great opportunity that you don't want to miss."

She smiled her thanks.

"My mind hasn't completely been on ranger duties as well," Bailey said slowly. She looked at her feet then at Fred before glancing at her friends. "For a while now…I've felt that I've been missing out a lot on life. Being able to go to parties, and sleepovers, and have other friends that I can hang out with. Friends my age, _girl_ friends my age. I've been thinking for a while…that I may step down from being a ranger. It's not as much in my heart as it used to be and…I guess the Zeo Crystal could feel that, hey?" She shrugged sheepishly, but didn't appear to be completely ashamed of it.

"What about Billy and Jason then?" Tommy asked. He exchanged a glance with Avalon, who then lowered her chin, allowing her hair to fall over her face. She couldn't look at either of them; it was just… too painful. They had already lost Jason, Zack, and Kim as rangers, now they were losing Aisha, Bailey, _and_ Billy? It just wasn't fair. "How come they didn't get the powers? I don't know anyone else that would be considered as pure of heart."

Before either of the former rangers could respond, Zordon grasped their attention once more. "There are many things that we are not aware of, rangers, and the mysteries of why some are chosen to take on the powers and others aren't, is one of them," he said. "But you should be proud of the work you've pulled off today. You've accomplished a great feat."

"Never thought I would miss Rita and Zedd though," Tommy said with a light laugh. "Knowing the Machine Empire is coming through."

"Well, thank goodness for the Zeo Crystal then, huh?" Rocky grinned.

The leader of the rangers smiled then shook his head. "But what will happen if the Machine Empire launches a big assault? I mean, as Zordon and Alpha said, they're stronger than Rita and Zedd ever were."

"Can't you think about the good that you've done and not worry so much about this?" Jason asked with a light shake of his head.

"Yeah, they're not here yet, so it's not like we really have to worry about them _now_ ," Fred added.

"Don't worry about it, Tommy, we're already working on it," Billy said with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah!" Bailey's eyes flashed in excitement. "And you won't believe some of the stuff we've already come up with."

"Excellent." Adam smiled.

"The rangers are back in action!" Rocky declared.

"But it's going to be weird that you guys aren't with us," Kat said to Aisha, Billy, and Bailey.

"Don't worry, we'll still be there to help, just in a different way," Billy said.

"And once a ranger, always a ranger," Tommy declared. The group of friends all nodded. Despite how many of them had already left their team, there was always going to be a place for them to call home. Angel Grove and the Power Chamber. It would never leave them no matter if they left the powers behind.

"We're back guys," Tommy said as he held out his hand, the others piling their on top of his in camaraderie. "Back and better than ever."

* * *

Avalon leaned over her sister as she ran a brush through her hair. She repeated the motions a few more times before sectioning it into three pieces and with deft fingers, weaved it all together into a long braid. Once she was finished, she tapped her sister on the shoulder and the former ranger picked up the mirror and angled it towards the back of her head.

"Looks good, Av, thanks," she said and beamed up at her sister.

"No worries, what are sisters for?" Avalon took the mirror and put it back on the dresser. She then went back to her bed and flopped down on it. "I'm glad Mum's okay. I didn't think about her being out there with everyone until we saw her with the guys. It's a good thing they didn't make it to uni either, yeah? David was okay," she added, speaking of Billy's father.

"I know," Bailey agreed. "But Bulk and Skull did a good job of keeping her safe." She turned towards the door as there was a light tap. "Come in." As Billy hesitantly entered the room she quickly twisted her body to the side of the bed and dropped her legs to the floor. "I'll be downstairs," she announced before scurrying out of the room.

Avalon sighed as she rested her hand on her upraised palm and allowed her long hair to fall over her face in a curtain. She could hear Billy walking over to her but didn't acknowledge him. She couldn't get his accusatory words out of her head, even when fighting hard against Rita, Zedd, Master Vile, Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina; it was in the back of her mind.

"Hey," he greeted her. "Can we talk?"

"Are you still mad at me?" She replied with an edge to her tone. He paused in his steps, carefully regarding her. Her eyes flashed as she stared at him, though she made no other move to say anything, causing him to let out a sigh. Her stubborn nature could be really useful when on the battle field, but it was a bitch to deal with in real life sometimes.

"Are _you_ still mad at me?" He replied, sitting down on the end of her bed. The orange ranger gave him an incredulous look as she shifted back to reach the headboard. She stared at him for a moment before letting out an even more incredulous laugh.

"You accused me of having feelings for someone else, Billy. Yes, I'm still fucking mad at you, boofhead. I reckon that deserves me being a little more than mad." she pointed out. Placing a hand on her chest she continued with,"I would never cheat on you or lead you on. I thought you knew I would never do that. Then you threw it in my face, asking if I still had feelings for him."

"What was I supposed to think?" Billy replied, his eyebrows furrowing together. He lifted a hand and ran it over the back of his neck. "Every time there's an issue with the Vipers you keep it a secret and don't talk about it. Ever. Not with me. Not with anyone else. You always talk to him about it."

"Why do you think I do that?" The Australian teen snapped. "Why do you think I don't bother telling anyone else about it? Because I feel so guilty!" Billy tilted his head and she gritted her teeth. "The last time I was hanging around them, we broke into and robbed Kim's house, and Jason got beat up. And I never told _them_ or the rest of you guys about it until after I had no choice. If I had said something before, a lot of things would've happened differently and he wouldn't have gotten hurt." She gave a humorless laugh. "I even messed up prom for you guys because I wanted to handle it on my own and I feel guilty about that too."

"You shouldn't."

"But I do! I've been by myself for a while, just me and Bay, and when I felt that the best thing was not to tell her things, I wouldn't. Because I didn't want her to worry. That's a hard habit to break. But guilt is even harder to break." She then lifted a finger. "To answer your other statement, I did like Jason before but he turned me down. Which was embarrassing, I must add." Avalon reminded him. "Besides, you were with Trini when that happened."

Yes, that was true. And he supposed that a potential relationship with his now girlfriend wasn't really on his radar back then, but knowing about it now, how he had seen the signs, how Kim had teased them about it…it didn't sit well with him. Call him petty but the thought still made him a little bit jealous…a little bit too insecure.

"But I'm not with her now," the former ranger reminded her. He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. "When Jason came back, don't get me wrong, I was excited. He's one of my best friends and I hated that he had to leave the team and leave me, Kim, and Tommy because we had known him so long. It was for a noble cause but it still hurt. Then I saw how…naturally you guys joked with each other again and…it made me realize that I know a lot about you…but I also _don't_ know a lot about you. And I guess I was afraid he might take you away from me."

Avalon blinked in surprise. This wasn't something Billy did a lot, speak about his feelings so openly. She knew him to be someone that worked through his emotions as he worked through other things in his life; with logic. Going into something as complex was hard for any normal person, but he reminded her of herself in that aspect. She always hid her feelings so that they weren't used against her in battle, and putting them out in the open had been taken out of her through her time with the Vipers. It wasn't until having met the rangers that she managed to come to terms with them once more and realize that it wouldn't hold her back. It's how she was able to be friends with them in the first place; they showed her how to do that.

"Oh," she said simply. Then she moved her hair back from her face to meet his gaze. "That's not going to happen," she said to him. His face remained blank but his eyes lit up a little bit. Still, he waited for her to speak. "I don't…I don't feel for him the way I feel for you. _About_ you. He's just my friend." She took a deep breath. "But…it's not like you're innocent in this whole thing. I can't help but sometimes feel that you don't want to be with me because you don't do the things the other guys do." Her cheeks enflamed for a moment and she ran her thumbs over the knuckles of her fingers. "I've seen how you were with Trini, and Tommy with Kim, and Zack with Angela, and Rocky and Aisha even though I'm still not sure what's going on with that…" she laughed again. "Even Fred and my sister. They always hold their hands and kiss them in public and give them hugs and…you don't do that. I'm always the one that has to do that sort of thing or it's only when we're somewhere private, so…I didn't know if you were growing bored of me. Or if I was doing something wrong…"

"I'm not bored of you, Ava," Billy said. "I could never get bored of you. And you're not doing anything wrong. I just…I'm not….I don't know." He finally shrugged. "It's not that I'm against it, I just….I'm not great with showing my emotions like that. I've always been that way. Even with past girlfriends I've been nervous and unsure about what to do or knowing if I'm pushing someone too far. But I'm getting better. You've made it easier." The orange zeo ranger rolled her eyes and he continued. "I'm serious. There's…a lot about you that's rubbed off on me. I'm not afraid to tackle so many things now, like how you jump into things head first, willing to protect anyone that's being threatened." He smiled a little. "So you may be a bit impulsive, but I like that about you."

"And I like that you're so sensible," Avalon added. "And…you're right about the whole Vipers thing. If I don't ever tell anyone about it, someone innocent is going to get hurt. But that's all I've been trying to avoid. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Billy said. The two smiled at each other and fell into a comfortable silence. The former ranger's inner wolf made a low growling sound and tilted its head down before its body followed suit and it rested comfortably on the ground. Billy rolled his eyes, though listened to what his inner animal spirit had to say. "Why don't we start over?" His voice sounded suddenly, startled Avalon.

Then the orange zeo ranger frowned, eyebrows furrowing together and her bottom lip moving into her mouth. "You…you want to break up with me?" She asked.

"Break up?" He was confused for a moment then shook his head. "No! No, I don't want to break up with you." He elaborated as the orange ranger now looked even more confused. "I want to start over…to put all of that behind us, to look forward to the future. If you want one. With me, I mean." He sudden appeared shy, lowering his head.

Then Avalon smiled. "I like that idea," she agreed. Then she held out her hand with gusto. "I'm Cadence Mitchell, but you can call me Avalon."

Billy smiled back and gently took her hand in his. "I'm Billy."


	47. Welcome To The Team

**Chapter 47**

_Welcome to the Team_

* * *

Tommy stretched his arms over his head, laying back against his pillows and allowing the smell of pancakes and bacon to rouse him. That what he had planned on doing, anyway, if it wasn't for Bailey bursting into his room and leapt onto his stomach. He cried out in pain and curled up in a ball, turning onto his side as her giggles filled his ears. He looked to the side and watched as the former ranger roll back and forth, continually laughing.

"I'm glad you find my pain to be so funny," he remarked, watching as she continued to laugh. "Why did you jump on me?"

"Because it's funny!" Bailey replied. She pushed herself up and moved into a sitting position beside her brother. "Okay, it didn't hurt that much you big baby. I was just trying to wake you up for brekkie."

The (now) red ranger's eyes closed once more as he sucked in a deep breath. The pain was already starting to subside. It was just the surprise of the attack that hurt more, and that he knew he was seconds away from picking her up and throwing her into a wall out of instinct alone. Thankfully, she had moved out of the way before he could allow himself to move into the fighter spirit that was inside him. He used to be such an advocate for peace and not getting into fights, being a ranger had ruined him in some ways, he realized.

"And you didn't think the smell alone could do that?" He asked, finally sitting up and lowering his t-shirt down over his stomach.

"C'mon Tommy, this is what having a sister is all about," Bailey said. She got up on her knees and started to shake him. "And you're going to have to get used to it." Tommy laughed lightly as he rubbed his eyes and stretched once more. "Okay, okay, let's go." He turned and slid to the side of the bed, swinging his legs over to the floor. Bailey leaned over and wrapped her arms round his neck and he lifted her onto his back, giving her a piggyback ride down to the kitchen as his parents and Avalon were already seated at the table, passing out plats for breakfast. "Good morning," he and Bailey said at the same time as he walked over to the table.

"Good morning," Mrs. Oliver replied with a bright smile. She opened her napkin and flapped it into her lap. "Tommy, did I hear you a few minutes ago? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No." The red ranger dropped her to the ground before going to his seat and dropping heavily into it. His rude awakening was doing nothing for his drowsiness. "Bailey decided o wake me up by jumping on me."

"Did I mention that she likes to do that?" Avalon asked, picking up her glass and taking a long sip from it. "Yeah, for a while I had nothing but bruises up and down my back because she thought it was funny to jump on me to wake me up."

"Yeah, well, she still does." Tommy looked over at Bailey and reached out, ruffling her hair. The former ranger laughed and pushed his hands away from her before meticulously patting each hair back into place. "And I'm sure she kneed me in my liver. So if that starts to shut down, you know who to blame." With that, a laugh moved around the room and the family started to eat breakfast. "So what are you guys up to today?" He asked his parents, starting into his stack of pancakes.

"We're going to go into town and help with the relief efforts to rebuild some of the businesses and store fronts that were damaged with the last monster attack," Mr. Oliver explained. He ran his hands over his eyes as he let out a weary sigh. "You'd think by now they would stop happening. But you never know what they want."

"We know what they want, Dad, they want to take over the world," Tommy explained. He exchanged a glance with Avalon, who shrugged in reply, making a face. " _Why_ they keep trying when we keep defeating them? I don't know."

"Even with these new powers we got, there's always going to be someone or some _thing_ that's going to continuously try and feel that they need to destroy us, so there's that," she added with a sarcastic tone to her voice. She then turned serious. "Right now we've been told that Earth is the last place this Machine Empire needs to capture to rule the entire Galaxy. So I guess we're some sort of a hot commodity."

"And is this Machine Empire already here?" Mrs. Oliver asked.

"Not that we know of yet," Bailey said. She sighed, suddenly looking sad. "But there's always something going on. So while Rita and Zedd aren't here anymore, that doesn't mean there isn't going to be some sort of a monster attack we'll have to deal with at some point or another." She rested her chin in her hand and poked at the pancakes on her plate, frowning slightly.

Tommy exchanged another glance with the orange ranger, who appeared just as sad as her sister did. It had only been a few days, but it was still hitting him hard, too. Looking over at the different colors on the team, seeing the yellow ranger and knowing that Aisha wasn't still under that helmet, seeing the blue ranger and knowing Billy wasn't still under that helmet. It was a blow to the stomach, a hard punch to the gut that he hadn't seen coming. There was no 'original' ranger team anymore; as soon as Billy wasn't able to take on a Zeo Crystal it was gone. The only ones that were left of the 'new' team were him and Avalon now that Bailey didn't have eth Zeo Crystal powers either. All that had to be done was have him replaced and there would be a 'new new' team and despite their common goal of wanting to help keep everyone safe, he had the lone selfish thought of wanting things to go back to normal. Back when Jason, Zack, and Trini was still around and…

And what?

There was no point in dwelling over it anymore. Things had changed now and he had to deal with it. He was the leader of the rangers, he was supposed to set an example for the rest of the team. Besides, he had no idea how the ones that were passed over for the powers—Jason and Fred—felt or the ones that weren't able to take it—Billy, Bailey, and Aisha. They were all putting on a front, but they were all hurting all the same.

The hardest thing to deal with was seeing the pink ranger and having to try his hardest and not call Kat 'Kim' when in battle. Not calling her 'Beautiful' as that would inevitably creep her out and make him feel even worse than he already had. He had to ignore the feeling of jumping to protect Kat as soon as he saw the pink spandex costume race across the field. He couldn't protect her in the same way he had Kim; she was still new to fighting and that showed. But he had to let her work things out on his own. Still, it was hard. Kim had been gone for about a month now and it was hard to not see her every day. He wanted to call her as much as he would be allowed, but didn't want to keep her away from her treatment if it was going well.

She would've wanted the same thing.

"Let's change the subject," Mr. Oliver said with a wave of his hand. "We don't want to talk about something so morbid. What are you all planning on doing today? Getting some of that homework done?" He gave a wry smile to his three children—that was something Tommy was getting used to as well—knowing how difficult it was to keep up with their school work as time went on.

"Oh no, we've already done that," The orange ranger said quickly. "We're going to the park to hang out with the new girl, Tanya. To make sure that she's adjusting well. She's starting at school soon and we want her to feel welcome, yeah?" She laughed lightly, almost sarcastically. "Besides, I don't think many people can deal with moving somewhere to go to school and getting new powers so quickly."

"How'd _you_ deal with it?" Mrs. Oliver asked her.

Avalon paused for a moment, bringing her hand up to her scarred shoulder. "Not well," she admitted. "But then again, I already had my own problems. But Tommo and the others really helped me out and we want to be sure she's okay, too."

"That's very nice of you guys," Mrs. Oliver said. She thought for a moment then smiled. "We're already bringing some lunches for people; we'll make you a picnic to take to the park with you guys. As a way for us to welcome her, too."

"That's really nice, Mrs. Oliver," Bailey said to her. She then paused, frowning lightly, and then clarified herself with, "I mean Tammy. Sorry, it's going to take a while for me to get used to that." She smiled apologetically. The rest of breakfast changed to the topic of the football games that were coming up soon and how the team stood a good chance of winning the state championship that year. It was one of the best lineups the school had and as the quarter back, Tommy had a lot of pressure put on him for it. Not only that, but because of his ranger duties he was sure there were going to be plenty of times he was going to have to choose which was more important.

Still, it wasn't anything he had to worry about at the moment. He was just living life the way he knew it to be, going through the motions so to speak. And it _was_ exciting to have used their new powers so efficiently the first time, feeling that new power run through his veins was more than he could ever imagine. Even when he wasn't morphed he felt stronger than ever.

Once breakfast was over, Tommy took a quick shower and went to his room to gather his wallet and his phone. Just as he was about to grab onto it, his phone started to ring and he jumped in surprise before picking it up and answering it. "Hello?"

"Hey Handsome." He immediately smiled when he heard Kimberly's voice. It sounded just as it always had been, happy, perky, healthy. He could practically see her sitting in the middle of the bed, a bright smile on her face, excited to be talking to him. "Wow, it's been so long hasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't called."

"Hey Beautiful," Tommy replied, finally finding his voice. "Yeah, I can't believe you got the time to call. I would've called you, but I wasn't sure about the policy of it, or if you would have time to talk to me. Or…if you had bad news or something."

"Tommy, I'm doing fine," Kimberly said, immediately calming him down. "I mean, it's not always easy, but I'm doing better than I have in a while. Like, I'm actually feeling alive again. But I wanted to apologize for not calling you until now. They wanted to be sure that my treatment was going well for the first month or so. But now I can call you whenever I have the free time."

"So what's it like over there?" He sat down on his bed, pressing the phone tightly to his ear. "I mean, in Florida, not the treatment center. I mean…sorry, I guess it's just kind of hard…I guess I don't know what to say." He ran his hand along the leg of his jeans. "I always thought this would've been a better conversation."

"That's okay, I like hearing your voice," Kimberly said with a light sigh. "Everything is so…sunny here. Like, it storms sometimes but there are hardly any clouds in the sky. And it's always so warm, not like how it gets cold at night in California. And there's so much to do out here." Then her voice turned down, almost depressive. "I miss Angel Grove. I miss you guys. I especially miss you, Handsome, you know that. Things can get pretty lonely here."

"But you still get to work on your gymnastics and stuff, right?" Tommy asked. He knew that had been what she was especially worried about when she heard she would be leaving for treatment. She had the opportunity to train for the Pan Globals and it was ripped away from her within a matter of seconds. "I don't expect you to give up on your dreams so easily."

"Yeah, I'm still practicing. A little bit each day. It's kind of hard because I get so tired so easily. But then there's also the fact that I'm being watched so much. I have to get weighed just about every day and they watch me to be sure I'm eating my food."

"Whatever it takes for you to be better, right?" There was a brief pause between the two of them and Tommy could hear her breathe heavily. "Tommy, I miss you so much. I miss having you next to me. I miss you being there to hold my hand and tell me everything is okay."

"I love you, Kim; you know that I'm still here to support you with everything you need. I know I can't physically be there to do that, but I'm here for you. All the time. Every day. Every night. No matter what. If you need me to teleport there, I'll be there in a second." He ran a hand over his hair. "I know that you'll get better. You're incredibly determined Kim, at whatever you put your mind to. You can do this!" He looked at his watch. "I'm sorry, Kim, but I have to go. I'm meeting up with the others at the park so that we can induct Tanya into the Power Ranger Family." He laughed lightly.

"Does that mean you're going to try and scare her as much as possible with the stories of all of the different monsters we've faced over the years?" He could hear the teasing lift in her voice and could see the expression on her face as she did so.

"It doesn't seem to work that well, we keep getting new people to know who we are."

"You can blame Av for that; most of the people that know are because of her."

"Worst kept secret, she said so herself." Kimberly then let out a light sigh. "If you have to go, I'll talk to you later. Do you have the number for my room?" Tommy concurred that he did, as it came up on caller ID. "Okay, I'll talk to you soon. I love you, Tommy."

"I love you, too, Beautiful."

The red ranger hung up his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He rounded his bed and kept his eyes forward as he passed his full-length mirror. He knew that as soon as he looked at it his reflection would be of the green ranger.

"We were just five normal teenagers when all of this started," Jason explained as he dropped his fork onto his plate and moved it aside. He wiped off his fingers and stretched out, resting his hands behind him. "Billy and I were working on some martial arts moves with our friends in the Youth Center." He grinned. "You may not believe it, but Billy wasn't that great at fighting back then." Billy gave Jason a disapproving look before giving him the finger and mutter a quick, "fuck you, man," under his breath—which caused surprised laughter from Avalon, Bailey, and Kait, causing Jason to smile wider. "Like I said, we were at the Youth Center all hanging out when there was this earthquake."

"Earthquakes are very common in California," Billy swooped in to continue. "We've experienced a few before. But this was different. Within this earthquake, while everyone was freaking out, we could feel something different going in within us. We didn't know at the time, but it was the feeling of being teleported. Next thing we knew, we were in the Command Center. That was exhilarating in itself," he added, remembering how excited he was to see everything.

"You mean strange," Jason interrupted.

Billy ignored him. "We didn't know anything and all of a sudden we were in this place with Zordon and Alpha explaining to us that we were suppose dot protect the city."

"Wow," Tanya said. Her eyes grew wide as the seconds passed, listening to the story. She had been very excited once the rangers had all met up in the park that day. Not only had she been ready to talk up a storm about the new Zeo Powers that she had used—and she had—but she had been even more excited to talk about how they all started within the group as Aisha had already explained to her—after having given up her powers. "And you guys really wanted to save your city? Just like that? But you were regular teenagers, how did you know what to do?"

"Well, at first we were the only ones that wanted to do it," Jason said. "The others had some of their excuses not to, Zack—the original black ranger—didn't want to do it at all. He thought Alpha and Zordon were crazy. Either that or he was a little too concerned about going after Angela. Then the putties attacked us and we had no choice but to morph. Rita sent out Goldar and things only went up from there as every monster after that had the ability to get bigger. And that's where our zords came in. We continued to fight whatever monster came our way for as long as we could."

"Then one day we found that Rita had taken control over someone and they became the evil green ranger," Billy said. His eyes shifted over towards Tommy and Tanya followed his gaze before gasping out loud, making him smile.

"Tanya," Rocky said to her. "It's not a movie."

"I know." The yellow ranger blushed in embarrassment, her dark cheeks turning even darker. "It's just…this is such a crazy story. An _evil_ ranger?"

"Yeah." Tommy let out a long sigh and stretched out so he was completely on his back, lacing his hands together behind his head. "I had just met these guys; Jason, Kimberly, Billy, Zack, and Trini and was coming home from the gym one day, glad that I had made friends. But I was suddenly stopped by this evil witch that wanted to use me to fend off the Power Rangers. I had no idea what she was talking about and I was too busy thinking about the people I had just met…"

"Thinking about kissing Kim, you mean," Billy interrupted with a sly smile.

Tommy reached out and punched him on the leg before continuing. "So Rita took me under her wing as the green ranger, but she made me evil. I could see everything I was doing, I had control over my body for the most part, but I also couldn't stop what I was doing. It was like I was inherently evil and I knew nothing different. And for a long time I continuously defeated the rangers. I did a lot of things, I almost killed Zordon and Alpha."

"But then Jason destroyed his sword," Billy said. "The sword of darkness. And Rita was free."

"I almost didn't do it," Jason contradicted him.

Avalon and Bailey exchanged glances as their eyebrows furrowed together. They had never heard that story before. Not that part of it, anyway. They thought it had been very easy; where they continuously fought Tommy until they managed to finally defeat him. But the bitterness in his tone showed there was more to that story. That there was more guilt being spread around than any of them had originally known.

"What do you mean? Did you almost lose him to the other dimension?" Adam scratched the back of his neck before adjusting the collar of his green flannel shirt. All of a sudden he didn't really want to be known as the new green ranger. He could feel his skin crawling as the seconds passed.

"We almost lost him because of the green candle," Jason explained.

"What's the green candle?" Avalon asked, tilting her head to the side.

"After I wasn't the green ranger anymore, but still held onto the powers of the green ranger, Rita devised a green candle. The point of the candle was made so that my connection to Zordon and the Command Center and my powers would be cut when the candle burned out. Then my powers would belong to Rita…and Goldar would've had the easy opportunity to kill me while I was in the other dimension that the rangers couldn't get to." Tommy said it all so simply, as if reading off his grocery list. "Long story short, the candle went out, I could've died, but they saved me and I gave my powers to Jason for the time being. Then all of the parents in Angel Grove were kidnapped, the rangers had to give up their Power Coins. All except mine. Billy, in a genius move, kept my coin and we used it to get the parents back. But my powers were completely drained until Zordon and Alpha made the powers of the white ranger for me."

"It wasn't long after that, that Av and Bailey came into our lives," Billy said. "They had moved to Angel Grove a few years before but didn't start going to our schools until a few months into the last school year. We didn't know it at the time, but Zordon and Alpha had discovered the Stegosaurus power coin and that went to Av, her powers shown when she immediately went into a fight with the putties to save Bay."

"Not long after that, we found out about the Ankylosaurus Power Coin, which had the ability to go to whomever's hands it fell into, good or bad," Avalon broke in, speeding through the rest of the story. "Bay got it; we fought for a long time. Jason, Zack, and Trini left, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha came in, Kim left, Kat came in, and now you're coming in." She caught Billy's eye and he raised an eyebrow but didn't press the other part of the conversation she didn't bring forth. It wasn't his place and she would talk about it when she was ready.

"Wow," Tanya said again. She clasped her hands into her lap and looked around at the group. "And you guys…and Fred…you all continuously do whatever you can to help out. Even if you don't have powers anymore?"

"Well, it's like Tommy said," Adam said to her. "Once a ranger, Always a ranger." He licked his lips, turning away for a moment. "There's going to be a lot of things you might now understand about what's going on. There are still some things that I don't understand. But if you ever need any help, just ask. We're here to help you."

The yellow ranger smiled at him, causing him to quickly turn his head away once more, as he had turned back to catch her gaze. "That's sweet Adam, thank you," She said to him.

"I'm new to this too, Tanya," Kat said helpfully from Tanya's other side. "I barely had the chance to get used to my Ninja Powers from Kim before I went on to become a Zeo Ranger. I don't' have a lot of fighting experience under my belt. We'll learn together, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You'll see, Tanya," Tommy said. "We may be a group of miss-matched personalities that like to make fun of each other a lot, but we're a team and we're always there for each other. We'll help you out."

"And it's good to have another girl on the team," Aisha added, putting her arm around her replacement's shoulders. "That way we can show the guys that girls mean business, too." She smiled and leaned her head against Tanya's shoulder, her smile fading for a moment. Then she straightened and smiled again. "Though they already knew that."

"Yes, we're quacking in our boots," Rocky said teasingly, receiving a slap to the arm in reply.

"Well, I think I can safely say for everyone…" Tommy held his hand out towards Tanya. "Welcome to the team."

Tanya beamed and took Tommy's hand, shaking it firmly.

The happines and excitement for the new addition to the ranger team was to be short lived as the Machine Empire loomed closer and closer every day.


	48. Daddy Dearest

**Chapter 48**

_Daddy Dearest_

* * *

Rocky wasn't sure if he wanted to pretend that his father wasn't around, or to strangle him the second he got. As it was, watching his mother and his brothers and sisters continually get brainwashed by the guy was starting to take its toll on him. Did it hurt more than losing his zords and powers again? Maybe not. Nothing hurt worse than knowing that the friends they had made, and the powers they had barely gotten to use, become obsolete to them. But then again they did just get their Zeo Powers so it wasn't as if it was a _complete_ waste.

Now, if only he could use them to get rid of Daniel without anyone knowing that he was a power ranger while doing so. As soon as the thought came into his head, he shook it out. No, that would just make things even harder than it had been before, especially considering the fact that the only reason that Adam had gotten the powers of the black Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger was because Zack had purposefully shown himself and given up his powers.

So much had changed since he, Aisha, and Adam had become part of the ranger team and seeing how much more was going to change around them and within them it was starting to worry him. Now with the Machine Empire coming closer and closer, with no idea of when they would arrive…

 _If they're bad enough to scare off Rita and Zedd, we're in more trouble than we ever thought we would be,_ Rocky thought as he lay back on his bed, arms resting behind his head. If his mother came into the room and saw him, she would throw a fit as he was getting his nice church clothes all wrinkled and she didn't allow anything other than perfection when they were going to church on Sundays. As it was, he probably had a few more minutes until his name was yelled up the stairs to get ready to go. Though, knowing his luck, his Dad was going to be the one to come up and get him. I _might as well beat him to it. I don't want to give him the satisfaction._

Standing up the blue Zeo ranger smoothed out his dress shirt and picked up his tie from his desk. He stood in the mirror and watched as he deftly moved his hands to tighten it around his neck. It was so strange, he noted to himself being the blue ranger now. Having to put on his blue tie, make sure he had enough blue clothes to get through the week…it was all silly if he really thought about it. It wasn't like anyone had a claim on what color they used for the own clothes…but it was like an unwritten rule: no one wore the color of a current ranger. It was just weird if they did; disrespectful in a way.

Plus it meant they were giving the mall a lot of business as they had to consistently go to the store to get more and more clothes that would have them coordinated. Still, he was so used to wearing red…it was his favorite color even before he had moved on to be the red ranger after Jason. It was synonymous, to him, with power and responsibility… _I guess it fits Tommy more than it does me…he's the leader of the team and is the best leader we could ever have._

Finishing up, Rocky turned away from the mirror and glanced at his watch before he left his room. As he sauntered downstairs, the sounds of his brothers' and sisters' excited squeals. It made him smile a little, if not worry, they were never excited to go to church. The older ones hated to dress up for it and the younger ones always fell asleep. Plus, he could see that Diego was getting to the age that where he wanted to hang out with his friends more than he wanted to be around his family, Isabella was getting there. But she had always been brought up to know when she was to be responsible and when to have fun.

Coming down the last step, Rocky watched as Daniel held onto a squirming Antonio and Maria as they giggled and kicked their legs back and forth. Isabella and Diego, on the other hand ,were calmly eating breakfast while their mother stood at the stove, flipping eggs in a pan. None of them were dressed for Church, which surprised Rocky more than he thought it would.

"Mami?" He called, walking over to her. She turned from the stove and gave him a smile before going back to what she had been doing. "We're going to be late. Why isn't anyone dressed?"

"I overslept," Rosa said with a light shake of her head. "And the children were hungry, Daniel suggested that we stay home—"

"—Stay home?" Her eldest son interrupted with a raised eyebrow. No, an incredulous eyebrow. This was the woman that had threatened to beat him when he was a child as he complained about having to go to church. Now she wanted to stay home? And for what? All because his father had suggested it? What was so special about this guy, that Rocky couldn't see, that was brainwashing his mother so much?

Or else it was that she still loved him. Couldn't live without him. Those were the vows that every man and wife had uttered when they gave themselves away to each other so that they could start their own lives. But then Daniel had gone and showcased how selfish he could be when he started to get into drug running. He had a good job and was very sufficient to their family, even when Rosa would take time off for maternity leave. But he had become so greedy, wanted money so much that he thought of illegal ways to get it. And it had bit him in the ass, the police had caught up with him faster than he had anticipated and it all came to a head when Rocky was woken up by policemen busting down his bedroom door.

"So we're not going?" He asked.

"No, honey, we have too much that we need to do today," Rosa said. She shook her head, but kept from facing her son, knowing there would be disappointment on his face. "Daniel is taking the kids to the park, which _you_ promised to do, but haven't done so yet."

 _That's because I've been saving the world day after day, Mami,_ Rocky thought. _I'm a power ranger. I've been protecting you guys as much as I could for the past year or so. I'm doing a lot more than what Dad has been doing since he got back here. Can't you see that he's just trying to butter you up? To get back into your good graces so that he can ruin our lives again._

Rocky wanted so badly to be able to say that to his mother, to let her know how much he had been trying to help her. It would be catastrophic if he did and so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he rolled his eyes, resting his hand on the counter beside him and leaned against it. "What does he have planned today? Other than taking them to the park."

"He said he wants to talk to you."

"Like that's going to happen."

With a loud sigh, Rosa slapped the spatula into the pan and turned towards her eldest son. There was a fire burning in her eyes that Rocky instinctively knew he had gone a little bit too far. She was trying her best; he knew that, he appreciated that. She was clearly having more trouble than she was willing to admit. And as she gripped onto his shoulders and looked him in the eye, he could see how painful it was to admit what she was about to say to him.

"Rockwell," she said as calmly as she could. "I'm doing my absolute best to take care of you guys," she said to him. "I'm so glad that you're been helping me as much as you could over the years. Your brothers and sisters adore you and love to spend time with you when you have it. But you're growing up, you have your own friends, you have college waiting for you. You're not going to be around, soon."

 _Sooner than that if something goes wrong while we're fighting._ The thought slammed into Rocky's head before he could stop it. It was the unspoken truth that the rangers usually tried not to speak about when it came to what they were doing to save Angel Grove. They were soldiers within a war, an intergalactic war, but a war nonetheless. Everything that a soldier in the military could potentially go through, they were putting themselves in danger of feeling as well.

Especially death.

"I don't want us to fall apart once you're gone. Your father made a mistake, Rocky. If I can forgive him for that…surely you can, too."

Licking his lips, Rocky started to respond, but was cut off as the doorbell rang. Twisting around, he exchanged a glance with Daniel. And for the second that he had his father's eyes locked onto his; a second too long, a second where everything he felt for his father shot through his body, a second where the chasm that sat between him and his father continued to stretch even further, Rocky was suddenly struck with the notion that he really did resemble his father. Their facial features were very similar, arranged in a way that would have people know immediately they were related.

The blue ranger used to like that.

Now he wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face.

Broken out of his thoughts as the doorbell rang again, Rocky suddenly remembered that he had called Aisha over to go to Church with them. As Daniel put Antonio and Maria on the ground, Rocky opened his stride and practically ran to the door, wanting to get there first. He pulled open the door and Aisha smiled up at him showing her teeth which were as white as the summer dress she was wearing. And for a moment, Rocky was stunned by how beautiful she looked.

Though, there was one thing that really put him off, and he said as much. "I don't think anything other than yellow is your color," he said to her.

The former ranger laughed as she looked down at her dress. "I know, right? Even my Mom and Dad thought it was strange that I wasn't wearing my normal yellow. I wish I could tell them why…" she paused for a second. "Well, I guess I can tell them now. But I don't want to worry them more than they already have been."

"I know the feeling," Rocky agreed. He paused and then smiled at her. "You look great, 'Sha." He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, which she made a squeaking sound of excitement to, before kissing him back. Laughing, Rocky leaned back away from her. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry!" She brought her hands up and covered her mouth. "I don't know where that came from. I can be such a dork, sometimes."

"No, it was cute, don't worry about it." Rocky smiled down at her, looking her in the eyes for a few moments. Then he heard a crashing sound behind him and he winced, brought back to reality. "Uh, yeah, I'm sorry I invited you over." At Aisha's stricken look he continued quickly. "No, I don't mean like that. I mean, I'm sorry I invited you over for nothing. We were supposed to be going to church, but now we're not…it's a long story. We can do something else though, get a late breakfast? Early lunch?"

Now Aisha's smile widened as she crossed her arms over her chest. She tilted her head to the side and smiled up at him teasingly. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"I thought I was."

"You thought right, then. I'd love to go." Aisha thought for a moment then reached out, gently patting him on the chest. "Though knowing where you'd want to go, you may not want to wear that. It's too nice to get too messy. Why don't we both get changed and then we can go?"

"Rocky? Who's at the door?"

Cringing once more, Rocky took a step back and turned towards his father as he came up behind him at the door. The older man looked over Aisha for a moment and then his eyes widened in recognition. "This can't be little Aisha," he said to her. "Not the one that had the skinned knees and scabbed elbows running around this one and Adam Park is it?"

Aisha laughed lightly, tucking a few of her braids behind her ear. "Yes, it's me." She looked over at Rocky and then back to Daniel once more. "It's…it's good to see you again, Mr. DeSantos."

"Please." He held out his hand towards her, ignoring the two kids that continued to climb on top of him. "Call me Daniel."

"Call him Mr. DeSantos," Rocky interrupted. He reached out and placed a hand on Aisha's shoulder. "We're going to be late if we don't get going now. I don't really care about messing up my clothes. It's a buffet, no one is trying to be fancy. Let's go!" He turned her around and started to pull her out the door, but Daniel stopped them.

"We're starting to have breakfast here, why don't you two stay. As a matter of fact I'm sure Rosa has made plenty for all of us to eat. We won't take 'no' for an answer."

 _Obviously._ Through gritted teeth, Rocky stood back and allowed Aisha to enter the house. She smiled over at Daniel and dropped her purse from her shoulder, placing it on the coat rack beside her. Daniel smiled back, dropping Maria and Antonio from his back. Maria immediately went over to Aisha and tugged on her hands.

"Aisha! Aisha! Come sit next to me!" She begged.

The former ranger laughed and ran her fingers through the youngest child's hair. "Sure thing, I'll be there in a minute, sweetie." She turned back to Rocky, who continued to glare at the retreating back of his father. "Don't worry, Rocko, it's not a big deal. It's just breakfast and think of it this way, no you don't have to worry about spending a lot of money."

"I guess."

Rocky crossed his arms and followed her across the living room and towards the kitchen. She looped her arm through his and leaned into him. "And if it makes you feel better…I think you look great in blue."

Rocky smiled.


	49. Rage Against The Machine

**Chapter 49**

_Rage Against the Machine_

* * *

Prince Sprocket let out a long sigh as he turned away from the window of his parents' ship and crossed his arms over his metal chest. "Daddy, when are we going to get there? I want to destroy another planet and this is taking too long."

"Dear, I don't think Sprocket will last much longer," Queen Machina said to King Mondo, who sat on his throne with an expression of indifference on his face. "You know how he gets when he gets like this. The last time it was to take a leak, now it's that he wants to take time to destroy something."

"He takes after his father," King Mondo replied with an air of pride. His eyes shifted over towards Prince Gasket, his and Queen Machina's eldest son, and his wife Archerina, then to Klank and Orbus. "That's more than I can say about the rest of these lazy bags of bolts. Is it so much to ask for them to have the same kind of drive I do to take over every planet we can get our hands on. I think they're just along for the ride."

"Now dear, you know as well as I do that once we get to Earth and land, they'll be more inclined to destroy everything they can get their hands on," Queen Machina reassured her husband. She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing we need to worry about."

"Daddy!" Prince Sprocket cried again.

"Though we need to worry about this one," Queen Machina said. "He'll probably turn on the thrusters and send us into the planet destroying it that way." She laughed before turning to her son and placing a hand on his head. "Patience, Sprocket, we're nearly there."

"I just want to see the place we're going to take over," Sprocket continued to whine. He moved and placed his face against the window that overlooked the galaxy. "I want to see what species we're going to kill off. The last ones weren't very interesting. They just sat there and took it. I want to see them squirm, Daddy."

King Mondo laughed appreciatively as he turned back to the control panel that sat in front of him. Amongst the futuristic buttons, knobs, and dials was a screen in between them all, showing what was ahead of them. He smiled as the picture of Earth loomed closer and closer. It was the best place for them to take over next. He had seen how badly Rita and Zedd had tried to conquer it and they had failed, it was perfect timing that they had runoff before he and the rest of his cohorts arrived. They had nothing against the Machine Empire; if King Mondo could destroy planet after planet and conquer galaxy after galaxy this wasn't going to be an issue.

Now, all they had to do was figure out where they were going to set up camp and start their world domination. Power Rangers be damned. There was no one that sided with the alliance of evil that didn't know who the power rangers were; they were just a little nuisance that could easily be contained and exterminated when the time came. If Zordon could be encompassed within a time tube, then he could destroy everything about that planet.

It was only a matter of time.

"Does anyone else find it kind of weird or is it just me?" Billy rested his head on his upraised palm as he leaned against the couch. He legs stretched out in front of him and crossed his legs at the ankle, his eyes moving around the other team members with him. "We started out with a team that had known each other for so long…and now we're changing team members sooner than I had ever anticipated."

"Well, let's be honest here, Billy, you didn't really think you were a good ranger when we started," Jason reminded him. He smiled a little as he gently rocked himself back and forth in the armchair that sat in the Cranston's living room. "If I remember correctly, you were the one that would have rather run away from the putties and pick them off one by one that way than right them."

The former blue ranger rolled his eyes as a light round of laughter moved around him. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to take them out strategically than through fighting. You taught me that, remember," he reminded him.

Tommy smiled. "That may be one of the biggest rules you learn in martial arts, but when it comes to aliens from other galaxies and planets, I think immediately going into a fight can be excused." He lay on his stomach on the floor with Bailey sitting on his lower back, resting her arms on his head. The smile slid from his face as he took in what Billy was saying. "But I get your point. We've managed to change our powers and our zords so much…" he trailed off for a moment as his falcon zord nestled in front of him in its small form. Since the rangers had changed to their Zeo powers, the power of their ninja abilities had become obsolete. However, unlike their Thunderzords, the powers hadn't been destroyed and while the ninja zords were offline in the case of their powers, they were still living things with a connection to their rangers.

Tommy briefly wondered if the crane zord had gone off to find Kimberly, he hadn't seen it since they left their new Power Chamber while the rest of their ninja zords went with their respective rangers.

"We need to keep everyone safe, but it's hard to have to start over so many times," Tommy continued. "When we still had our mighty morphin' powers, we were a well oiled machine. Then Rocky, Adam, and Aisha came in for Jason, Zack, and Trini." He quickly propped himself up on his elbows. "I'm not saying they're a bad addition to the team or anything, and they're great friends, but it's hard to continuously see them go."

Billy nodded and his eyes moved over to Avalon, who was curled up on the couch, listening quietly. Then he looked over at Jason and caught his eye, the two sighing heavily. Billy didn't realize it was going to be so hard, to have all of the powers and responsibility he had become so used to and had helped him grow into being a much more confident young man, and have them given up. But the Zeo Powers weren't destined for him and there was nothing he could do about it, no point in being upset. It was as he said, he was using his abilities in a different way that was still supposed to help.

But how much more loss was he going to be able to handle? Jason, Zach, and Trini left, Kimberly left, he wasn't a ranger anymore, Bailey wasn't a ranger anymore, Aisha wasn't a ranger anymore…his mother was gone…it was certainly only a matter of time until they reached their breaking point and could no longer handle the stress and pressures of the life they were living. As it was, he knew that his new responsibility on the team was to give them advice, continue to work on weapons and figure out how their enemy works when the time comes.

As it was, he was stumped. He knew nothing of the Machine Empire, other than what Alpha and Zordon had told them and the rest of the rangers once the Zeo powers had chosen them. All they knew was that King Mondo and his Machine Empire were stronger than Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile and they had been defeated by the ranger when they were in their unmorphed form due to the Zeo powers coming to their aid. If they hadn't been able to defeat the Emperor and Darkness and his queen…how difficult would it be to defeat the empire they hadn't met before.

"The only thing we can do is make sure the others are up to speed about everything they need to do," Avalon said, finally speaking for the first time since Tommy and Jason had arrived earlier that afternoon. "Tanya's new to all of this, not just to Angel Grove, and she needs to know that when the time comes, this is more important than everything else we do. Our personal lives, our school life, work…" She gently shook her head. "It's a tough sacrifice to make and putting the knowledge of having to become strong enough to meet the standards it'd take to defeat them." She brushed her hair back out of her face. "It just makes you wonder when this will all be over."

"I can't imagine it'd be anytime soon, Sis," Bailey pointed out. "There's always going to be another faction that wants to take over the Earth."

"I meant when we'd be done being rangers," The orange ranger corrected. She motioned to Tommy, Jason, and Billy. "They were the original rangers and I don't think any of them would've thought it was going to end. Now Tommy and I are the only ones that are left from the original-original team." She then gave a humorless smile. "Or should I say last year's model."

"Funny, Avie," Jason remarked with a light roll of his eyes.

"She has a point though," Bailey defended her sister. She leaned forward on Tommy's head, her added weight pushing him closer and closer towards the ground. "It's not that we're trying to exclude everyone else, yeah? But we've been doing it longer and we know what it takes. Rocky and Adam are still relatively new to the whole thing. They haven't seen how much sacrifice has to be made. Now that most of us are done…what's going to stop you from that happening to?" She motioned to Tommy. "What if something happens to Kim and you have to go out to Florida? Or what if something happens with Mum or Dad or Dana and we have to go back to Australia? Jason, Zack, and Trini all had good reasons for leaving…what are we going to do if that happens again?"

"We'll have to deal with it when the time comes, Bay," Tommy pointed out. His voice was muffled as his face continued to get pushed further and further towards the carpet. "It's not something we have to worry about right now."

"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "There's no better strategy than preparation for whatever is going to come."

"Like that History test none of us have studied for?" Avalon pointed out before grimacing along with Jason and Tommy. Billy, on the other hand, appeared as cool as cucumber, making the orange ranger suddenly hate him for how easily school work came to him. "Too bad we can't tell the Machine Empire to attack on days we have big tests."

"That'd be abusing the system and I'm sure there's a special rule we don't know about that would cause you to lose your powers that way," Tommy said. Now face-planted against the ground, he used his hands to push himself back up, hard enough so that Bailey topped off his back onto the ground. "Sorry, Bay, but I kinda need my lungs to breathe."

The former purple ranger stuck her tongue out at her brother before sitting Indian style on the floor.

"So here's the only thing you can do," Jason said to the group, falling back into his leadership style despite not having the role for a while. "You have to lead the way and show the others what it means to be a ranger. Have faith in them. The Zeo powers wouldn't have chosen them or any of us if they didn't think we were the ones suited for the responsibility."

"And what if we can't do that?" Avalon asked. "What if the Machine Empire is stronger than we think?"

"Then you have to keep trying until you can't try any more, the worst thing you can do is give up."

Billy nodded in agreement though he didn't particularly agree with what Jason had said. The worst thing they couldn't do was give up, it was against what they stood for, the worst thing they could do was be defeated.

And it seemed like this enemy was the one that could do that.


	50. Starting Over

**Chapter 50**

_Starting Over_

* * *

Bailey hummed lightly to herself as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and fastened it with a purple ribbon, twisting it into the shape of a bow with a few quick flips of her wrists. As soon as she spotted the purple fabric sticking out from the sides of her ponytail in her reflection, she wondered if it was a mistake.

She wasn't a ranger anymore; she shouldn't have to only wear purple. She could wear any color she wanted to wear now. _Within reason,_ she reminded herself. _You don't want to steal anyone else's color. Not that that it leaves the rest of us much to choose from, yeah?_ She turned away from the mirror and watched as her sister leaned into her own mirror over her desk and took a few steps closer. Enviously, she watched as the orange ranger carefully put on some mascara and a little bit of lip-gloss. As much as her sister complained about how short she was—standing only at five feet tall—how she didn't have the same upbringing as the others, and constantly worried whether or not she was doing the right thing, Bailey saw her sister as nothing but beautiful.

"How do you do that?" She asked her sister, kneeling down so that her reflection was next to her sister's. Avalon's brown eyes moved over to hers and she gave her little sister a funny look. "How do you put makeup on like that? It looks like you're not wearing any at all."

"That's the idea, Goober," Avalon said. She picked up a makeup brush and playfully fluffed it over her sister's face. "You're not supposed to make it look like you're wearing a lot, unless it's a certain color." Twisting her mouth to the side for a moment she tilted her head to the side and studied her sister for a moment. "Actually, I think you're old enough to start wearing some."

Bailey's eyes widened and she did her best to hold down the excited 'eep' that inched its way up her throat. "Really?"

"Yeah! I'm sure Mum would say the same thing. I didn't start wearing any until I was a little bit older than you. But after everything we've been through as of late you need something to look forward to. Sit down." She moved out of her seat and motioned for Bailey to sit down as well.

The former ranger did as she was told and eagerly closed her eyes while her sister got to work. She felt something get spread over her face, a brush tickling her nose, her eyelashes being tugged, and then a wand slathered across her lips. Then when she had the okay, she turned towards the mirror and opened her eyes. She was surprised to find that she saw herself in the mirror, but could tell that something had been changed as well, her eyes stood out a bit more than the regular dull, dark brown than they always were.

"I like it, Av!" Bailey leapt to her feet and gave her big sister a big hug, which the orange ranger returned. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Bay." Avalon chuckled as she rubbed her sister's back. She then slapped a light pink tube into her hand. "Just be sure that you put this on every now and then when you feel like it's wearing out and you'll be fine."

"Thanks," Bailey repeated. She stared down at the tube in her hand. In some strange way it was like a symbol for the end of her reign as a power ranger. She was trading the nearly daily afternoon fights with monsters and practices in the Command Center to….to what? To being a normal teenager. It was what she had wanted, to be honest. What she had thought a lot about within the last couple of months and now that she had it… she wasn't sure if she truly did want it.

She wanted friends, she wanted a social life, she wanted to be able to go out with her boyfriend. And she was able to do that all while fighting off intergalactic beings and expanding her scientific prowess with Alpha and Zordon. But her friends weren't _her_ friends; they were Avalon's friends. Her free time before had been filled with nothing but ideas and schematics for new weapons; now she was going to have nothing but free time, though she knew she would be able to help out the others when they needed it. Now she could go out with her boyfriend whenever she wanted…but she knew he would be just as preoccupied with the goings on of the Machine Empire as anything else.

In many ways it was like she couldn't win…and didn't know how.

There was a light knock on the door and the two girls turned to find David standing in the doorway, holding his knuckles on the wooden paneling. Once he was sure he could go inside, he gave a small smile to the two girls. "You both look like you're ready to go back to school after everything that's happened."

"I don't know if _ready_ is the right word, David," Avalon said to him with a light laugh. "Not when there's the chance that history could repeat itself."

She gave him a sympathetic look and he nodded, knowing she was implying the school invasion Rita and Zedd had managed to inflict on Angel Grove Middle and High school. As much as the rangers had never thought it would happen, it caused a lot of grief for a lot of people; security within Angel Grove changed in conjunction with the emergency evacuation plan, it was then that Sabrina had learned about and had to live with the fact that she and Scorpina were one and the same, then that the rangers had to morph and potentially reveal their secret in front of all of their classmates, and it was when they found out that no matter what they did to protect their friends and family, no one was 100% safe.

"And it's not like we haven't been back to school," She added. "It's just the first day back after Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile managed to capture so many residents of Angel Grove. If this doesn't mean there's going to be an increase of government presence around here, I don't know what does."

Bailey nodded in agreement. Since the days when the rangers had discovered their Zeo Powers, Captain Mitchell made it a point to call the girls every now and then to make sure everything was okay, as well as speaking with Billy to speak about the plans that were being worked on to increase national security. Even Dana called just to see how things were going every now and then and Ellie, who was supposed to go back to Australia within a few days of the attacks, decided to stay in Angel Grove for the rest of the girls' school years.

"Well, that being said, there's something I wanted to talk to you two about," David said. He licked his lips for a moment as he tried to find the words to say. "I know that I haven't really been here for you, Bailey, or Billy for the past couple of months because of…" he paused for a moment and swallowed hard, showing the girls she still wasn't over his wife's death. _Or,_ Bailey realized, _that he doesn't know how to move on from it._ "…Because of what happened. But Lacey and I both agreed to bring you into this family was something we couldn't question and while you're now adopted by the Olivers, I want you to know that I do still think of you two as my daughters, even if I haven't really shown it a lot."

Bailey smiled over at David. She did, in many ways, think of him as her father, just as much as Mr. Oliver was getting to that point in her eyes, just as she had once viewed her own father before things had become so complicated. Besides as far as she was concerned David was really going to be her father one Av and Billy got married.

"And Lacey had wanted to give you these for Christmas, but I thought it would be a good idea to do it now." David reached into his pocket and pulled out two small boxes, handing one over to Avalon and one to Bailey. "To show you how proud we are that the two of you have managed to turn your lives around so well."

Exchanging a glance, the sisters opened the boxes and looked inside to find a locket resting inside. Bailey's eyes widened as she took in the silver jewelry and lifted it out of the box. She turned it back and forth in her hand, watching as the start gently twinkled back and forth. Glancing over at Avalon she saw her sister had gotten a heart shaped locket in her box and was also silver in color.

"I'm really proud of what you two have accomplished and I know that we're not that close, but I thought with this being your senior year, Av, and you going into high school next year, Bailey, that you should be reminded of it as much as possible."

"Thanks, David." Avalon pulled her hair aside and quickly fastened it around her neck and Bailey did the same. She brought her hand up and lightly rested her fingertips against the surface of the cool piece of jewelry. "It means a lot that you think that."

Bailey nodded in agreement before getting up and going over to David, throwing her arms around him in a hug. He appeared caught off-guard for a moment before Avalon hugged him as well, allowing him to relax and gently hug them back before motioning for them to leave or else they would be late for school. Grabbing her backpack, Bailey followed her sister out of the room and down the stairs to find Billy standing in the kitchen, the phone pressed to his ear with one hand, the other resting on his hip as he paced back and forth. As he reached the end of the kitchen and turned back to start his path all over again, he found the sisters watching him curiously.

Lifting a hand to let them know he'd be a minute, he lowered his voice to an almost mumble as he continued speaking into the phone. Finally, he let out a low sigh and brought his hand to his forehead, nodded, gave his thanks, and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Bailey asked, as nosy as ever. She felt a nudge against her back and twisted her head to stick her tongue out at her sister. Yes, she was trying to figure out a private phone conversation, but she could see her sister wanted to know as well.

"It's no one," Billy said with another sigh. He ran his hands over his face, suddenly looking tired. "They're just having some problems they need my help with. I can fix it later." He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder before reaching out his hand as an open invitation. Avalon smiled and slipped her hand into his, squeezing it as she stepped closer to him.

Miming sticking a finger down her throat, Bailey turned on her heel and led the way from the kitchen and out of the house, calling goodbye to David as she went. The three rangers left the house and hand-in-hand Billy and Avalon strolled over towards Billy's truck. Bailey hesitated as she walked towards it and her sister noticed.

"Are you coming, Bay?"

"No," she said quickly. "Fred and I are going to walk to school. He should be here any minute." She looked at her watch, suddenly self conscious about the makeup that had been placed upon her. Did she look good? Did she look goofy? It was like the first day of school all over again (which it was in some ways) and her stomach rumbled with anxiety.

Now that she wasn't a ranger, her attention had shifted over to the other part of her life that didn't make a lot of sense to her. Before she could change her mind, she heard her name being called and turned around to see Fred heading her way on his bike. Taking a deep breath, she waved to Billy and Avalon and he waved back before carefully backing out of the driveway and took off down the street. Tucking her hair behind her ears, Bailey turned back towards her friend.

"Hey Fred," she greeted him, voice a little shaky. "What's up?" _What are you so nervous about, Bay? You've been dating him for a while now, he's your friend. You were braver than this when you were fighting against Tengas and Goldar._ As if reading her thoughts, she felt her lion zord, which was nestled into the bottom of her backpack, gently nudge against her back. _Yeah, but you used that as a way to distract yourself from…everything else._

"Not much," Fred replied as he came to a stop beside her. He lifted his baseball cap off his head and wiped his forehead. "I was kind of getting used to being off of school for a while." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Kinda makes me wish that the Machine Empire really _is_ as bad as Zordon and Alpha say, so that we can get some more days off."

Reaching out a hand, Bailey shoved Fred on the shoulder and shifted her backpack up her shoulders before started down the driveway and walking along the sidewalk. Fred slowly peddled his bike along beside her. "Don't joke about that, Fred, we already have enough problems to deal with. The Machine Empire alone is going to be bad if Rita and Zedd are afraid of them."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. His voice sounded wistful. He shrugged for a moment, continuing to face forward as he peddled along. "It just makes me wonder, if the Zeo powers are really a match for them."

"It helped the guys fend of Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile."

"I know, but they just ran away, we don't know if it really could've helped. Especially since your ninja powers were taken away so quickly."

"…True."

She hadn't thought of that. The two walked along in silence for a few moments before Bailey recognized the top of Angel Grove Middle school come into view. Then the anxiety rolled through her stomach once more. She sighed and shook out her hands, causing Fred to give her a half smile.

"What are you nervous? It isn't really the first day back at school, you know?"

"I know," Bailey replied. She hugged her arms to her chest. "It's just…I can already tell that things are different. I don't feel powerful and even though no one else in school knew I was a ranger…I felt more confident with it, I guess." She shrugged and lowered her head. "Never mind, it's stupid, yeah?"

"It's not stupid, Bay, its how you're feeling. You went from singlehandedly defeating Ivan Ooze—"

Bailey burst out laughing. "Okay, we _helped_ but I don't think we stopped him singlehandedly," she reminded him.

He continued, ignoring her interruption. "Got your ninja powers, worked hard as a ranger to make sure that your weapons worked throughout it, faced as many monsters and Tengas as you could because you understood what it meant to have that responsibility. It'll be hard to go back to normal, but I guess there's one good thing about it." He trailed off, cheeks stained red.

The former purple ranger noticed and laughed teasingly. "What? That I get to spend more time with you?"

"Well…yeah." Bashfully, he focused on the road ahead of them.

Bailey reached out a hand and placed it on Fred's shoulder, signaling for him to stop. As he pumped the breaks she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I was thinking the same thing," she admitted. Giggling under her breath when she noticed the light pink stain that stuck to his cheek, she climbed onto the back of his bike and held onto his shoulders. "C'mon or we're going to be late."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Fred shifted his weight to the side and pressed his feet onto the pedals once more.

* * *

Tanya looked around, hugging her books to her chest as she watched the students of Angel Grove High stood at their lockers chatting, laughing, yelling to each other up and down the hallway, and got ready for their classes. Now she knew what it felt like to be one of the wild animals she had seen running around in the savannah or the watering holes. It was so animalistic to her, comforting in that sense, but also so very different.

She had never been in a school like this before, not this big, not with so many other classmates that case from so many different backgrounds and had so many different religious views, morals, and ideals. And now here she was in a new city, working with a group of people she barely knew to protect a city she had hardly lived in, and was expected to go to this American school all at the same time.

 _Maybe I can tell people that I change my mind, that I don't really like it here,_ Tanya thought as she slowly inched her way down the hallway. _Then I can go back home and help out my mother and father, like I was supposed to._ Turning the corner, the Yellow Zeo Ranger glanced down at the scrap of paper that sat in her hand, holding her locker assignment as well as the combination for her lock. Eyes running over the metal slabs that sat around her, she briefly wondered what the point of having a locker was. Her books weren't so heavy and she was used to carrying them around all the time as it was. It was more than she needed anyway.

Still, she was grateful for the space she could call her own and looked at her sheet of paper once more. It had to around there somewhere…Tanya was so engrossed within looking for her locker assignment that she walked into an African-American teen who was coming in her direction. She dropped her books to the ground and immediately started to pick them up.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't watching where I was going." She looked up when she noticed the teen had knelt down to help her and their eyes met. He smiled at her, a dimple appearing in his cheek and she smiled back. "I guess I'm kind of nervous. It's my first day."

"It's sort of the first day for a lot of us," the teen replied. "So I'll let it slide this time." He laughed to himself and stood up, holding the last of Tanya's books out to her. "I'm Shawn, by the way. Shawn Montgomery." He stared at her for a long moment. "You're the exchange student from Africa aren't you? Tanya Sloan?"

"What gave it away?" Tanya was sudden very self-conscious. "My accent?" She knew it was different compared to everyone around her. When she was in the store getting some new school supplies, at Aisha's insistence, she had gotten a few expressions of surprise, a few funny looks, but otherwise people were really glad to help her with others asking about her life in Africa. If all of Angel Grove was this nice, she was glad she moved there.

"That," Shawn admitted. "And I don't think I've ever seen anyone that has as much of a beautiful smile."

With his words, Tanya's smile widened even further. "That's so nice, Shawn."

"What can I say? I can't lie about something that's right in front of me." Shawn looked at his watch before turning his attention back to Tanya. "I have to get going, but I hope I see you around soon. Maybe show you around the school."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." And she truly did appreciate it. No one else had welcomed her to the school like Shawn did. Or…complement her in that way. None of the guys back in Africa had been that nice, but then again their social rules were a bit different. She wasn't arranged to be married exactly, it wasn't one of their practices, but there were conversations about her getting married sooner rather than later and some guys were interested in her. Some more aggressive than others. But he was sweet. "Maybe we can do our homework or something later."

"Maybe. Let me know." He stepped around her and headed off down the hallway. Tanya watched him as he walked away from her. She found herself staring, only snapping to attention when she realized her eyes rested on his backside for too long. She whirled herself back around and found her locker with a sigh of relief, spotting Kat and Aisha at their lockers nearby.

As she approached, the Pink Zeo Ranger and the former Yellow Ranger turned and waved to her excitedly. "Boy am I glad to see you," Tanya said as she approached them. "I didn't realize there were so many people that went to school here. I really feel out of place."

"Don't worry about it, Tanya, you'll fit in soon," Aisha reassured her.

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "And I know what you mean when you say you feel out of place." She placed her hand on Tanya's shoulder and gently shook it. "I'm still pretty new here and Rocky, Adam, and Aisha moved here a little before I did. And so did Avalon and Bailey. But we've all managed to get used to it, to find a place we fit and so will you."

"I hope so." Tanya put her combination into the lock and opened the door. "I can't wait for all of my classes, but I guess I'm a little nervous, too." She took out the books she needed and placed everything else inside. "That's normal, right?"

"I'd be a little worried if you _weren't,"_ Aisha said honestly. "It's normal to be nervous on your first day. I'm sure I will be when I go to Africa." She hugged her books to her chest and let out a light sigh, now frowning with anxiety.

"Well, that won't be for a while," Rocky commented as he, Adam, Billy, and Avalon walked over to the girls. He grinned down at Aisha, moving a braid back out of her face. "And until then we'll enjoy having your around." Suddenly, as if his fingers burned, his pulled his hand back away from her cheek and coughed into his hand, cheeks turning red. Kat's eyebrows rose as she exchanged a glance with Adam, who pressed his lips together to keep from laughing out loud. The way the two were acting around each other was cute.

"Who do you have for homeroom?" Avalon asked her. "Ms. Appleby, I'm sure." Tanya nodded her confirmation and the short Australian teen nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ace! She's a great teacher and a good listener and treats you like a person rather than just a student."

"She sounds nice. I can't wait to meet her."

"You're going to have a good time here, Tanya, don't worry," Billy reassured her. He looked at his watch before dropping his hand from Avalon's. "I have to go talk to Mr. Kaplan about something, but I'll meet you guys there, okay?" Receiving sounds of confirmation from his friends he turned and headed off down the hall.

"I can show you around before you go to homeroom" Adam suggested to Tanya, grasping her attention. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and bobbed his head back and forth. "I have to stop by my locker anyway. It's just down the hall."

"Thanks Adam," she said gratefully. "That's really sweet."

He smiled, turning his gaze to his feet for a moment before shrugging modestly. "You're welcome."

"Has anyone seen Tommy?" Kat asked suddenly. Her eyebrows were pressed together in concern. "He should be here by now. He can't afford to be late the first day back."

"This is Tommy we're talking about," Rocky reminded her. "The only thing he _can_ afford is time." He grinned as his friends laughed.

* * *

"Oh I can't believe I'm late!" Tommy cried as he hurried through the kitchen, throwing his lunch together.

Throwing his lunch bag into his red backpack, he had actually stopped to look for his white one at the beginning of the day and that had put him behind even further, after having had woken up late.

It wasn't his fault, really. He had been on the phone late the night before talking to Kimberly and bringing her up to speed about their new powers and his new color. She had laughed loudly when he explained that he was now the red ranger, noting that it wasn't really his color and that he looked better in white. He agreed, of course, but knew that red was a really important color in terms of being a ranger. Red meant you were the leader, the one everyone else looked up to. It was a bit of a fluke that he had been the leader while wearing white. In his opinion, Jason was a better leader for them all, more experienced, level-headed, knew how to make tough decisions and the sacrifices that had to be made.

But as she was the heart of the team, Kimberly reassured him that he was a great choice for the leader of the new team. She teased him about the color for a while and then the two conversed about what the new team was like and what the Machine Empire would be. Then they talked about Tommy's martial arts training and Kimberly's gymnastics training before it was time for them to go to bed. It was a conversation they normally had; it was as if they weren't thousands of miles apart.

But they were and remembering that hurt him more than having to stop the conversation.

Once woken up by the sound of his mother yelling at him that he'd be late, he flew into warp drive, got dressed into his new red clothes, and hurried to get out of the house on time. He made sure he had everything in his backpack for school that day and headed out of the house, ignoring his mother's disappointed shake of her head. He started down the driveway before he heard a mechanical grinding sound and turned around to see what appeared to be a small army of robots appear behind him.

Tommy narrowed his eyes as he studied the small army. Each robot had a gold head, a silver jumpsuit with a black belt around the waist, and matching black gloves and boots. They moved robotically as well, as if there was jerky circuitry within them.

"What the heck?" Tommy muttered to himself as they moved closer. "I get King Mondo wanted to get started earlier than we thought." His eyes then widened when the face of one of the robots opened and a beam shot out towards him. "Whoa!" Tommy dove to the side and rolled out of the way of the beam, watching as it blew up a shrub behind him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he clenched his hands into fists before tossing his backpack aside. "Well, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you got!"


	51. Looking Ahead

**Chapter 51**

_Looking Ahead  
_

* * *

Tommy leapt forward and shoved his fist into the chest of the robot in front of him, causing it to instinctively lean forward, as if trying to catch its breath. He then grabbed onto the free arm of the robot and swung it so it crashed into the robot that tried to grab onto him from behind. Then it was a flurry of fists and feet as Tommy defended himself from the robots that continued to come after him. He flipped over the head of one of the robots, lashing out with his foot as he went, and struck it hard in the face.

Landing on the ground, he immediately found his feet swept out from underneath him from a robot that had been waiting for just that moment. He crashed onto his side. Blowing his hair out of his face he looked up to find a robot standing over him, ready to bring its heavy, metallic foot down onto the top of his head. A grin came onto the red ranger's face and he rolled to the side before bringing his legs up and wrapped them around the robot's waist. Shifting aside, he rolled his bodyweight over so that the robot came with him. As the robot came over, he let go and the robot went flying, crashing onto the ground. Then he did a kick-up back to his feet and brought his fists close to his face, waiting for the next strike. Suddenly he found his arms yanked behind his back and his legs lifted up off the ground. Letting out a startled cry, Tommy was lifted high into the air before he was tossed onto the ground, followed by a flurry of lasers shot from their eyes.

Thankfully, they had thrown him a good distance away, causing the laser blasts to miss him as he fell back to the ground. Though he couldn't say the same for his neighbor's rosebush. Landing hard on his back, Tommy let out a low grown of pain before rolling onto his side. Sucking in a few breaths between his teeth, somewhat paralyzed by the pain that shot through his body—he was unsure if he really had been hit by a laser or if it were because of the strength of their throw—Tommy watched them slowly come closer to him.

Now would've been a good time for Zordon and Alpha to randomly teleport him to the Power Chamber so that he wouldn't end up captured by the Machine Empire. That would've been an interesting newspaper headline for the day, teen captured by aliens on the way to school. _Yeah, that's be really funny, Tommy,_ he thought to himself, managing to push himself up onto his elbow. The robot moved closer before they suddenly disappeared in a portal that opened up in the sky.

Eyes widened, Tommy blinked a few times before rubbing at his eyes. He had seen a lot of strange things since becoming a power ranger, but watching a portal open up; showing off the intricate swirls and stars of space as it did so was something he never imagined. He pushed himself to his feet and went over to the now smoldering bush to grab his backpack. He hoped his mother, who was undoubtedly hiding somewhere within the house amidst the explosions, wouldn't be too upset that her hard work within that garden wouldn't crush her.

Glancing around a few times, Tommy hurried into his car and threw his backpack into the passenger seat. Now he _wanted_ to go to school, so he could tell the others what had just happened. If King Mondo and his foot soldiers were willing to attack him while he was going to school, where he could've easily revealed his identity, where someone else could've easily gotten hurt, then there was no telling the sorts of things he would do when it came to defeating the Power Rangers in their entirety. Tommy raced to school, his grip tight on the steering wheel, blasting through yellow lights that were close to turning red so he could make it to school on time. He would be lucky if he could get there before homeroom ended, it'd be the only time he had to talk before there was a flurry of classes. They had gotten a letter through the mail saying that as they were late for the school to be open, their classes would be shorter, to give them a shorter day, but they'd do a lot of them back to back.

He finally made it to the parking lot and practically flew out of his car and hurried off to homeroom. He tried to compose himself before he went through the door, but was still gasping for air a little bit. Ms. Appleby, who was in the middle of explaining what the year would entail as they were seniors, stopped and glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. "I see that you've tried really hard to join us today, Tommy."

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, going over to his empty seat by his friends. "I guess I just overslept this morning. I got held up by something." He hoped his words would've been able to show his friends there was something wrong and they'd understand that something with the Machine Empire had gone on. However as he glanced at them he could see they looked normal, calm, as if it was just typical Tommy being forgetful again. _Well, you have to admit, Tommy, you don't have a great track record with that sort of thing,_ he reminded himself.

"Well, I was just going over the things that you are all to start thinking about…SATs…college applications…your Prom…how you're going to make this year the best year of your life."

"You mean apart from the constant monster attacks we have around here?" Shawn called out loudly, causing the class to laugh quietly. Tommy felt his shoulders tense as he thought about the robots earlier that morning. He could tell that his arms and legs would bruise, they had been holding onto him so hard. Either that or their robotic grips were meant to be so tight. "'Cause that stuff is starting to get ridiculous."

"Well I'm sure the power rangers will do the best they can to make sure they keep everyone safe," Ms. Appleby said calmly. "But I don't want you to think about the monster fights. I don't want you to think about the future to the point that you all start to _worry_ about the future. Live in the now. Make decisions you don't normally make. Have fun. Things can become pretty stressful at times but know that I'm always on your side and I'm here to help if you ever need it." She smiled at the class before picking up the clipboard that sat on the desk beside her. "I'll just go over roll call and then we can get started."

"Aisha Campbell?"

"Here!" She said brightly, bringing her hand into the air.

"Billy Cranston?"

"Present." That was always Billy's answer, the more formal 'present' than all of the other answers. It usually made Tommy smile, as Billy was the one that always stood out in his own way. This time, however, it didn't sound as bright and ready as it normally did. Tommy looked over his shoulder at the technical advisor, but nothing on his face gave anything away.

"Rocky DeSantos?"

"Here!"

"Katherine Hillard?"

"Here!"

"Tommy Oliver?" Ms. Appleby smiled over the top of the clipboard and continued with, "We already know you're here, it's good to see you," causing the class to start laughing all over again.

"Cadence Oliver-Mitchell?"

For a moment Tommy had no clue who Ms. Appleby was talking about. Not because of the last name, that came to him quickly as she and Bailey had decided to change it once everything had been official, but because of the first name. She exclusively went by Avalon to the point that he had completely forgotten she went by one of her middle names instead. "Here," she said and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Adam Park?"

"Here."

"Jason Scott?"

There was silence. Tommy's eyebrows furrowed together as he looked around at his friends. He twisted in his seat and found an empty spot towards the back of the room where Jason normally would be sitting. Frowning, he reached out and tapped Billy on the arm. "Have you seen Jase this morning?"

"I was in a meeting with Mr. Kaplan as soon as we got here this morning," he replied. "But it doesn't seem like the others have seen him either. Do you think something has happened?"

Tommy shook his head. "I don't think so. If something did happen he'd probably let us know by now. "And if it were any that had to do with the Machine Empire they would've known within a few minutes. "I'm sure he's okay."

Billy nodded in agreement but didn't look convinced. Tommy wasn't sure whether or not he believed it as well. There were only a few things that would keep Jason from going to school; a family emergency, sickness, something that had to do with a monster fight…the last one he wasn't so sure about it. Especially because they all would've gotten the call on their morphers. Before they had the chance to peculate even more, the door to the classroom opened and Jason walked inside without a care in the world.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, closing the door behind him. "I got caught up with something."

"That's alright, Jason, we've already had Tommy come in a bit late. One more isn't a big deal." Ms. Appleby made a mark on her clipboard then hugged it to her chest as she turned to him, eyebrows lowering. "I hope everything's alright?"

"Everything's fine, I was just running late." Jason made his way to the back of the room and dropped his backpack to the ground as he dropped into his seat. Tommy lanced over at him, looking to see If there was anything in his face that would give him away but he saw nothing.

"Okay, but please try not to have it happen again. We're already running on a tight schedule because of the recent attacks and I can't afford to have anyone fall behind." Ms. Appleby went through the rest of the list before she smiled over at Tanya. "And I'd like to mention the new addition to our class, Miss. Tanya Sloan." She motioned to her and Tanya, a little embarrassed, waved to the class as she smiled. "She came all the way here from Africa as part of our foreign exchange program. Please make her feel welcome and show her that Angel Grove is as great of a place to live as we think it is."

"Thank you, Ms. Appleby," Tanya said with a warm smile.

"You're welcome." The woman looked at her watch and backed towards her desk. "I hope you all have an amazing year. Since we have some time before the period ends, you're free to speak quietly amongst yourselves before you go off to your next class."

Tommy took the opportunity to turn towards his friends. There must have been a serious expression on his face, or they realized his stance as to mean something important as they all leaned back towards him. "I wasn't just late because I was late," he murmured to them. "I was late because I was attacked by these…robot things," he said. He watched as their eyes widened or narrowed in surprise. "I think they're the foot soldiers from King Mondo. They're strong, even stronger than the Tengas and even then they have these...lasers they can shoot from their eyes, too. They're going to be tough to beat."

"If they attacked you at your house, then they'll attack us anywhere," Rocky realized. "We're not safe no matter where we go."

"That's been proven to us many times over," Billy reminded them. "We just have to make sure that we're always on guard this time around."

"Can we afford to do that, though?" Adam crossed his arms over his chest before he lowered his hands and ran them over each other. "Sooner or later our anxiety is going to drive us crazy, maybe make us hurt someone we didn't mean to hurt."

"It's a risk we were going have to face eventually, anyway," Aisha pointed out. "Especially because of how many people already know who we are. Not only does it put them in danger, but it means they have more ammunition that can be used against us _because_ of them."

"She's right," Avalon agreed. "It's the way a lot of these guys work." Her eyes shifted for a moment. "Human or not. The best way to get to someone else is by using those close to them."

"So what are we going to do then?" Katherine's voice was soft, wondering. "Isn't Adam right? We might be able to keep our guard up for a lot of things, but what if we make a mistake."

"We won't," Tommy said firmly. "We know what we're up against and we'll beat them. If we focus too much on what _could_ happen, then that'll just eat us alive. And Ms. Appleby is right, we can't focus on things that will make us freak out. We need to take it a day at a time and trust in ourselves and the power that we were destined to have."

Now Billy grinned. "I think you're starting to take a few tips from Jason over here," he said, tilting his head towards the former ranger, who looked amused. "Your speeches are starting to become very heartfelt." Tommy grinned in reply as the bell rang, signaling them to go to their next class. Grabbing his bag, Tommy followed behind the others as they made their way out of the room, then fell in step with Jason. "So what made you late? The only time you've ever decided to miss school is if you were sick."

"I got caught up with something, like I said," Jason replied. He shrugged and when he noticed Tommy's strong gaze, he continued. "I stopped by the Youth Center on the way in this morning to see if Ernie needed some help to fix things that had been damaged and there was some trouble I had to deal with."

"What kind of trouble?" Tommy pressed. "The Machine Empire?"

"No. Nothing like that." Jason shrugged again, now obviously distracted. "There was just this gang of guys that I ran into—"he heard Tommy's sharp intake of breath and quickly placed a hand on the Red Ranger's shoulder. "Not the Vipers. I mean a bike gang." He snorted. "A petty bike gang at that, from what I can tell they're just a bunch of guys looking for trouble rather than being serious about causing trouble."

"Ah. That sounds like it won't be that much of an issue then," Tommy said. "Probably nothing that Bulk and Skull can't handle." The two looked at each other and started to laugh, pushing the thought of their incidents out of their heads. As good of a job as they were doing with the Angel Grove Police Department, it was still a silly thought that the school bullies had managed to completely turn their lives around.

* * *

Adam stretched his arms over his head as he headed towards his locker once the school bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. It had been designed to move quickly due to the time they were to make up, but it had dragged on. There was just too much to think about other than school and he didn't know how to keep it all straight. As it was, he stood in front of his locker for a few minutes, trying to figure out what books he was going to need for that night.

"Hi Adam." Turning around he found Sabrina walking over to him. "How was your day?"

"Sabrina!" He cried before composing himself. "My day has been fine…but what are you still doing here? I thought you were leaving Angel Grove…" he trailed off, remembering what it was that she had said to him earlier. Right before Master Vile's attack on the city. She wanted to explain to him why she had left so suddenly and then that happened… "You got stuck here because of them?"

"Sort of," Sabrina agreed. "That and my parents want to be sure that they can actually sell the house to get some money back. We're having some financial problems in our new place." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not anything that I'm really worried about and it's nice to be here a little while longer." She paused for a moment. "Am I keeping you from something?"

"No, we were just going to head out to the Youth Center to get started on some homework," Adam replied. "You're welcome to join us."

Sabrina smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

"Cool." Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Adam's eyes swept over Sabrina's face for a moment. She was as beautiful as ever with a smile that was meant for him. But still…he couldn't help but think about the other side of her, Scorpina. It wasn't really _her_ anymore, but she had been brought back from the dead and was still working with the forces of evil. Who knew if she still had a bond with her human vessel? "Come on, then."

"Okay!"

Adam and Sabrina walked out of the school and to the Youth Center, chatting about nothing and everything as they went. Their conversations were still as calm and casual as they had always been. Even better now that Sabrina knew he was a power ranger. Nevertheless he still wondered about the risk. There was too much for them to have used against them. But Tommy was right; they couldn't worry so much about it going forward. If only his dating life wasn't the only problem not that he even _was_ dating her anymore.

Arriving at the teen hangout, Adam held the door open for Sabrina and motioned for her to go inside. The two then walked over to the table that was being held by Tommy, Kat, and Tanya. "Where're the others?" he asked as the two sat down.

"Billy went to go work on something, some experiment," Tommy said, which Adam knew was a code for working on something within the Power Chamber. "Av had to go to work and Rocky, Jase, and Aisha are sparring over there." He nodded and Adam looked over his shoulder to find Jason and Rocky moving back and forth across the mats that had been set up with Aisha watching them, keeping score. "The rest of us thought it would be a good idea to get started on our homework."

"Right." Adam picked up his backpack and placed it on his lap. Unzipping the bag, he reached inside for his books. Then he noticed Tanya and Sabrina smiling awkwardly at each other and he cringed, realizing they were waiting to be introduced to each other. "Oh! Sabrina, this is the new girl Tanya Sloan. Tanya this is my…" Adam trailed off, suddenly feeling his face turn red.

His what?

His friend?

His ex?

His girlfriend?

"My…uh…"

Tommy and Kat exchanged pained glances and bowed their heads, unsure of what to do to help. Adam didn't blame them, if he had been in their shoes with one of them in his; he would've tried to stay out of it as much as possible, too.

"I'm Sabrina," She finally said, holding her hand out towards the African girl. "I'm Adam's _friend_." Adam felt himself blush even harder at the ease the girl managed to introduce himself. He didn't know why it was so hard just to get the word out, or why he felt so…anxious about it. He was fine before, it wasn't such a big deal anyway. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Tanya replied. She shook Sabrina's hand firmly. "Are you new here? I haven't seen you around the school."

"Oh, I did go to the high school," Sabrina explained. "I don't live here anymore. We just came back to see if we could sell the house or if there was anything that we missed before we left."

 _You forgot the Scorpina stuff,_ Adam thought before he could stop himself. He felt guilty as soon as the thought entered his mind.

"So, Tanya," Tommy quickly changed the subject, as if able to read Adam's mind. "How do you like Angel Grove so far?"

"Well, I like it," Tanya said slowly. "But I feel even more like I'm the new girl in town, you know? I just want to fit in." She shook her head with a heavy sigh, lowering her gaze to the textbook that was open in front of her.

"I know how it feels," Kat said with a reassuring smile. Adam had forgotten that she only been on the power rangers team for a short time, a new girl in town not too long ago. Adam certainly knew how that felt having from a place he lived his whole life, but he had Rocky and Aisha with him as he went, so it was easier. _She must feel so alone._ "So trust me, just be yourself and you'll fit in just fine," Kat said with a reassuring smile.

Tanya smiled back and Adam found his eyes widened for a moment. She had such a nice smile. Then he found himself staring and quickly turned his attention towards his math homework. That is until he heard footsteps coming towards the table and looked up to find an African-American teen coming their way. He tapped Tanya on one shoulder and as she turned to look at him, he moved the other way until she turned back and found his face close to hers.

"Hey Tanya," he greeted her.

"Hey Shawn!" Tanya's eyes lit up as she focused on him. She sat up quickly and pointed around the table. "These are my friends Tommy, Kat, Sabrina, and Adam." The rangers and Sabrina all smiled and waved towards the teen and he did the same, though Adam couldn't help but notice that his attention was very quickly brought back to Tanya.

"Hey everyone," he said. "Actually, I know we just met earlier today, but maybe we can do our homework together? I mean, if I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh, it's okay," she said eagerly. "I'll be there in a minute." Shawn nodded and walked over to an empty table nearby with the rangers and Sabrina watching him go.

"Hang on a minute," Kat said. She tapped her pen against the bottom of her lip. "Isn't Shawn the captain of the baseball team?" She asked. Tanya lowered her head, dark cheeks darkening even further as she muttered a tiny, "yeah," and Kat's smile widened as she exchanged a glance with Tommy.

"Seems to me you're fitting in pretty well," Tommy remarked.

"I'll say," Tanya replied with an excited smile. She scooped up her books and headed over to Shawn's table. Once she was out of ear shot, Tommy, Kat, and Sabrina all started laughing. Adam tried but failed, only able to manage a smile. He had no idea why it bothered him so much.

"What's so funny?" Rocky as he, Jason, and Aisha walked over to join the group. "I'm sure it's not homework." He pulled out his chair and flipped it around so that he hugged the back of the chair to his chest.

"Definitely not," Tommy agreed.

"We were just saying how nice it was that Tanya has managed to make a new friend so quickly." Kat pointed over to the table that she and Shawn occupied, talking quietly with each other.

"Oooh, good choice," Aisha agreed and the two girls laughed, the former yellow ranger missing Rocky roll his eyes.

"So what's up with you guys?" Adam asked, changing the subject. "You seemed to be working hard over there." Jason nodded, placing his hands on his hips.

"Well, I figured there would be some more…difficult opponents they'd face at some point and thought it would be a good idea to step up martial arts training a little bit."

"Good idea."

And it was a good idea, who knew how long it would take until King Mondo finally showed his face to them?

* * *

"Your highness, I mean my highness, I mean, Daddy?" Prince Sprocket babbled as he tried to get his father's attention. King Mondo turned towards him, as patient as ever. He toddled over to his father's side and waited for his undivided attention. On the other side of the base, Prince Gasket rolled his eyes but stayed silent.

"Yes? What is it my little prodigy?" There was no mistaking the pride within King Mondo's voice. If anyone was going to grow up to follow in his footsteps and complete his plan, it was to be Prince Sprocket.

Reaching out his hands, Prince Sprocket grabbed onto King Mondo's arms and started to bounce up and down. "Did the quadrofighters find the secret location where Zordon is keeping his fleet of zords?"

"But of course! That fool Zordon insults me by thinking that he can hide them from me." With pride, King Mondo puffed out his chest. Like there was any doubt they would have found the weapons of destruction that Zordon would use against him.

"It is so tiresome with no challenge," Queen Machina remarked.

"I agree. I will simply dispatch a platoon of cogs to infiltrate their hiding place and sabotage their silly zords before they are completed!"


	52. Apples and Oranges

**Chapter 52**

_Apples and Oranges_

* * *

Avalon glanced at her watch before pushing her long hair form her face. As thick and long as it was, she was mostly surprised she had been able to fit it underneath her helmet than deal with it every day in the Angel Grove heat. Though she had been the little girl that would never allow her other to touch her hair with a pair of scissors, she was now seriously considering getting a haircut.

"I'll see you later, Mum, I have to get going," she said to Ellie, who sat across the table from her, gently holding onto a mug of coffee. "But Bay will come by this afternoon to see how you're doing."

Ellie laughed lightly as she placed her mug onto the table. "I told you, Cadence, I'm fine." She gently shook her head, blonde hair falling into her brown eyes. "The Power Rangers made quick work of those monsters, yeah?" Her eyes sparkled as her eldest daughter rolled her eyes. She reached out her hand and grasped Avalon's hand. "You have to stop worrying about me, Cadey. I'm fine. I should be asking you that."

"Ah, fighting off monsters every now and then is a workout now, yeah?" She smiled.

"I meant with the Olivers."

Avalon tilted her head to the side and studied her mother for a long moment. No matter how close she had gotten to Lacey before her passing, no matter Mrs. Oliver being her adoptive mother, Ellie was always going to be her mother and if it weren't for circumstances that eventually spiraled out of her control, they probably would still be together as a family. Though there was a chance she wouldn't have met all of her friends and become part of something that managed to turn her life around more than she thought possible.

"They're great," Avalon said honestly. "Tommy's cool to have as a brother though I'm doing my best to get on his nerves." She grinned. "Bay's had me as a sister for years and Tommy's been an only child for too long. He needs to know what it's like to have a sibling."

Ellie laughed. "I hope you two haven't been running him ragged."

"I wouldn't use the word 'ragged', yeah?" Avalon smiled. "I'd say we've been breaking him in. It's helped that he was my friend before the adoption process started happening." Then a scowl briefly came to her face as she thought about it. It was something that still bothered her to an extent, how her father had easily given up custody of her and Bailey—though it was bound to be taken away because of the way he had sent them off to America without checking everything would work out. "How are things with you?"

"Fine now that I'm closer to you two," Ellie replied. "Speaking of, when are you going to bring your friends over here? Or Billy? If he's your boyfriend I want to get to know him better."

"It's not like I'm keeping them a secret, Mum, but monster fights take up a lot of time and energy. But I promise I'll bring them the next I'm here. Or just come by either of the houses, now that all of the parents know we're rangers it's probably something we should do more." The orange zeo ranger got up and kissed her mother on the cheek. "But now I _really_ have to go. Or else I'll be late for school." She picked her backpack up off the ground and held out her hand as her Tiger Zord ran up her arm and placed itself on her shoulder. "I'll see you later, Mum."

"Bye, Cadence."

Avalon picked up a brown bag of groceries that sat on the counter and nestled it against her chest before waving to her mother once more and left the apartment. She shifted her backpack up to her free shoulder and started to walk down to her next stop before she went to school. Coming up to the apartment she reached out and knocked on the door before going inside.

"Hey Sharky," She greeted the girl that sat on the couch, pulling on a pair of dress shoes. "Going out for another interview."

"Yeah, I need to get _something_ so I can pay the rent around here," Sharky replied. She stood up and smoothed down her skirt. "Trust me when I say the guys' salaries don't really do much for our situation." Her eyes lit up when she spotted the bag of food in the ranger's hands. "Thanks for that! Bulk ate the last of what we had last night."

"I figured it was time for you lot to be running low, and Mum said she didn't mind giving some of the things she knew she wouldn't eat," Avalon said with a laugh. She handed over the bag and looked around the tiny living room. "Are the guys asleep?"

"They always are when they're not working." With a roll of her eyes she walked into the kitchen and started to put the groceries away. "Don't get me wrong if it wasn't for Skull I probably wouldn't still be in Angel Grove. I wouldn't be turning my life around. Who knows what would have happened at that party if they hadn't shown up when they did?"

"What are we talking about?" Bulk asked as he and Skull practically stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing sleep form their eyes. Bulk immediately zeroed in on the bag of food and grabbed it out of Sharky's hands, rummaging through it. "Food!"

"Nourishment!" Skull added, moving up beside Bulk and plunging his hand into the bag.

"Locusts," Avalon teased. She and Sharky laughed the blonde moving out of the line of fire as the boys picked apart the bag. "What are you guys up to today? Do you have a shift or is it your day off?"

"Day off," Skull said through a mouthful of apple, taking a large bite out of the apple he had found. "Actually, we have the whole week off with pay. A vacation I guess."

"You told me it was only a few days." Sharky placed her hands on her hips. "When did it become a week?"

Bulk shrugged, standing at the blender. He opened the gallon of milk and dumped half of it inside before throwing in pieces of fruit. "I don't know. Lt. Stone had said something about taking a few days off and then something happened to his commemorative plaque of some sort of award. I don't know." He shrugged again. "But we now have the week off, but that doesn't mean that we can take time off of our duties."

"Right. We can't take time off of our duties," Skull mumbled. He looked at his watch. "Thanks for the grub, Av."

"You're welcome, Skull."

"Speaking of, don't you have to be at school soon?"

"You barely showed up to school or anywhere on time and you're harping on _her_ about being late to school?" Sharky asked with a light shake of her head. "Whatever. I have to get going." She reached out and took Skull's apple from his hand and took a bite herself before handing it back to him, not appearing to notice the slightly stunned expression on his face. "Wish me luck."

"Yeah, yeah, good luck," Bulk muttered. He was busy scanning the front of the blender. "How do you turn this thing on?" He let out a cry of triumph once he found the right button a pressed it with his thumb. All of a sudden the blender whirred to life and shot through the mush of milk and fruit at the bottom. Once it all became liquefied the drink shot out of the blender, into the air and all over Bulk and Skull as they screamed and tried frantically to turn it off.

By the time they managed to silence the machine there was smoothie dripping off of the ceiling onto the floor. The girls laughed as they backed away from the spectacle before them, Bulk and Skull glaring at each other. "Way to go, Bulkie!" Skull shot, wiping some of the drink off of his face. "If I wanted some I would have asked you for it."

"Shut up!" Bulk reached out and shoved Skull hard, sending him crashing into the refrigerator. "And help me clean this up."

"I'll see you guys later," Sharky called gin as the girls backed away from the spectacle in front of them, before quickly leaving the room. "I hope they'll have that cleaned up by the time I get back, but knowing those two…"

"I reckon we should hope the interview doesn't take too long and that those boofheads know how to clean," Avalon added. She laughed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you're living with the two of them."

"I think the same thing, sometimes." Avalon studied her friend as Sharky looked over her shoulder, smiling fondly at the apartment. Sharky's smile widened after a second, as if suddenly remembering something, and she lowered her head. "Well, I don't want to keep you from your interview. Good luck, Sharky, you'll be beauty."

"Thanks, Av, I'll see you later." Sharky waved before walking down the street to the bus stop.

Avalon looked around for a moment before lifting her Tigerzord off her shoulder. "So what do you think? Do you think this place'll still be standing by the time Sharky gets back?" The Tigerzord growled low in its throat and shook its head. "Yeah, I didn't think so." She gently ran her hand along the back of the zord and gently placed it in the mesh pocket of her backpack. She glanced around once more then brought her communicator up and pressed the button on the side, teleporting to school.

Once she arrived she immediately went inside and headed over to her locker with a light bounce to her step. She couldn't help it; the day just seemed to be a good one for her. She had the chance to see her Mom and her friends, she was ready for the test that was coming up at the end of the week—after Billy had practically forced her into a study routine to be ready for it (with plenty of time for breaks that benefitted the both of them) and she was sure she'd be able to keep her good mood up despite the monster fights that were bound to come up at some point.

As she arrived at her locker she felt a tap on her left shoulder and swiveled her head to the side, frowning when she didn't see anyone there, then turned back the other way and caught sight of Billy leaning against the locker beside her. "Hey, Smurf!" She greeted him happily, eyes lighting up as he swooped in and kissed her. He really was trying to change things between them. "I hate it when you do that, mate," she added.

"Did I scare you?" He tried and failed to hide his smile.

"I don't get scared," she replied quickly, firmly believing it.

"Everyone's scared of something, Ava," Billy reminded her. "It's basic human nature, humans weren't created to feel powerful over everything, there has to be a sort of balance. It's in our DNA. Then again, biology isn't my strongest of the science disciplines."

"Really?" Her eyebrows rose teasingly. "And here I thought you were good at everything."

"If that were the case I would have won the Nobel by now."

"Not the Pulitzer?"

"The Nobel has a bigger cash prize." Billy said it so matter-of-factly that Avalon couldn't help but laugh as she gathered her books for her first class. "And the Nobel is awarded for everything I've ever studied and compiled. Sure, I probably wouldn't be able to fit my ranger experiments and breakthroughs within my repertoire but all of my other work should suffice."

"Is that where you were this morning?" Avalon reached out and gently closed her locker door. At Billy's confused glance she continued. "You weren't in your room when I left."

"I was in the Command Center looking over the zords," Billy replied, bringing a hand up to cover his light yawn. "I had a lot of hard work to do." He shrugged. "It's necessary if we're going to be going against the Machine Empire. Especially with the way you guys handle them." He winked at her and Avalon swatted him on the arm before bringing her backpack up her shoulders once more. The two fell into step with each other and he reached over and slid his fingers between hers and held onto her hand, pressing his palm against hers. "I must admit there was something else that I had to take care of this morning that had me leave the house sort of early."

"I'm sure it was better than watching Bulk and Skull blow up their blender." Avalon laughed as Billy let out a low snort. "I don't know how you weren't friends with those guys, they're bloody hysterical."

"Mm, well, when they pick on you since they first saw you it's sort of hard to be their friend," Billy pointed out.

The orange ranger stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"It's nothing," he said quickly, turning to face her. "It's not what I wanted to talk to you about anyway. What are you doing tonight?"

"Well, I'm not scheduled to work today so I thought I would do my homework knowing you would probably shake your head in that rather annoying, disappointed parent way that you do." Avalon ran her hand through her hair as Billy chuckled. She knew he was doing it because he cared and there was a good chance that if he didn't get on her for her school work she wouldn't do it. Though she was doing her best to her life around and push her past within the Vipers away as far as she could make it go. "Why?"

"Well, there's something I want to talk to you about and I thought we could go out," he replied.

"Good oh," Avalon readily replied. Billy wracked his brain for a second before tilting his head to the side, eyes narrowing.

"That means 'okay', right?"

"I see you've been brushing up on your slang."

"Considering nearly every other word that comes out of your mouth is slang, I don't suppose I have much of a choice." Billy squeezed her hand. "I have to go to science class but I'll see you later." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before hurrying down the hall at a light jog.

"Go eat something," she called after him. "I know you didn't have breakfast this morning! And coffee doesn't count as a breakfast!" She added before he disappeared around the corner. She let out a light sigh and turned around to find Kat, Aisha, and Tanya giving her funny looks. No, not funny. Amused. Teasing. "What?" The orange ranger practically snapped though managed to keep the bite out of her tone at the last minute.

"Nothing, just that you and Billy are really cute together," Aisha said, clasping her hands together. She let out a swooning sigh. "I remember when Kim and I were trying to convince you that you two were good together." She poked Avalon on the shoulder as the girls fell in step with each other up the hall. "We could see it before you could."

That's sweet," Kat said with a light smile. She clutched her books to her chest; blue eyes alight with a calm energy. "How long have you two been together?"

"Since the summer," Avalon replied.

She could feel the Tigerzord burrowing its way to the bottom of the mesh pocket on her backpack, trying to get comfortable. It was so strange to know they had already gotten a new set of powers so quickly. It seemed like they had only just lost their original dino and Thunderzord powers, gone on their mission to receive the ninja powers, and defeated Ivan Oooze, the rest of the horoscope monsters, and whatever other henchmen Rita and Zedd had thrown their way. And now they had the Zeo powers and a new entity to go against.

"Though it feels like it's been much longer." She then grinned and elbowed Aisha in the side, quickly changing the subject off of her. "And what about you and Rocky? Is it just me or was the bloke jealous that you said that Shawn was cute."

"He _is_ cute," Aisha defended herself, then expertly switching the attention over to Tanya. "I was just telling the truth. And he seems to have his eyes for Tanya." She reached out and grabbed onto the arm of her successor. "I've seen him in class, he does nothing but stare at you all the time, hoping he'll get your attention."

"We're just friends," Tanya insisted.

"There's no such thing as just friends, mate," Kat said with a light shake of her head. Avalon pointed to the Australian and nodded in agreement. "And weren't you the one that was saying you were going to be studying together later today?"

"To go over the material for our test, it's not a big deal," Tanya said, though she couldn't stop the smile that was on her face. "I mean, yeah, he's really nice and he had a good smile. But I just got here to Angel Grove and to this school and I want to make sure I can _stay_ here." With that she looked at her watch. "Which I may not be able to do if I'm late for class. I have to go!"

"Me too, I have music class," Avalon agreed.

"We'll see you later at the Youth Center," Aisha said and motioned to Kat before the girls went their separate ways, racing off to their classes.

* * *

"C'mon, Tommy!" Avalon called, leaning forward as she watched Tommy in his red gi shuffle back and forth across the floor of the youth center.

"You can do it, Adam!" Aisha added.

Jason looked over at the girls before down at the stopwatch he held in his hand. Alternately, he looked back and forth from the fighters to the time keeper. Kat, Avalon, Aisha, and Rocky were watching them as they also worked on their homework. Tommy and Adam jumped back and forth as they continued to fight each other, letting out grunts and their kiais as they went.

"Time!" Jason finally called. He lowered the stopwatch and walked over to the rangers as they shook hands, grinning each other. "Way to go, guys, you did a really great job out there. You landed solid blows on each other."

"I thought he had me this time," Tommy said with a grin, going over to his bag and took his towel, dabbing at his neck. "It was really close."

"I thought I had you, too," Adam said with a smile. "It was really close, man."

"Ah, it's really not that hard to take him down." Jason grinned at the red zeo ranger, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Tommy always gets into his head at some point, wait for that moment and then you can do it. I've certainly done it enough times."

"Thanks, man, your confidence in me is astounding," Tommy said sarcastically. The other rangers laughed as the three walked over to their table. Avalon let out an indignant cry as he reached out and grabbed onto her half finished smoothie. "Sorry, I need the energy." He then cried out in pain as the orange zeo ranger reached out and punched him hard on the arm. "Ow! Geez, why did I ever want you as a sister?"

"I wonder the same thing, mate," Avalon shot back before the two stuck their tongues out at each other causing their friends to laugh.

"If this is what you do when you're just hanging out, I can't wait to see what real sibling rivalry is," Adam joked. "Maybe taking their blasters to each other." He high-fived Rocky, who was laughing hysterically by this point.

"I think it'd be nice to have a little brother or sister," Kat mused. "I'm an only child so I always wanted someone to hang out with."

"Do you want mine?" Tommy and Avalon asked in unison, causing laughter to erupt once more. The group of friends were laughing so much that they hadn't noticed Tanya arrive at the Youth Center until she was standing at their table.

"Hey guys," she greeted them all, somewhat quietly. "Where're Billy, Bailey, and Fred?"

"They're working on some stuff back at the Command Center," Jason explained. He then noticed the expression on her face and his eyes narrowed for a moment. "Is everything okay, Tanya?"

She tried to keep her smile up but then lost it within a few seconds. "Um, can I talk to you guys for a minute? It's kind of important."

"Of course," Kat said, immediately growing concerned. "What is it?"

"I have a problem," Tanya replied. She started to twist her fingers together. "I don't know where to start."

Adam and Tommy exchanged a glance and the green Zeo ranger moved to her side. "Listen, whatever it is, we're your friends. And we want to help," he reminded her. He gave her a small smile, placing his hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing it with his thumb.

"I know you do, Adam," Tanya replied just as quietly. "And thank you. You see—"she was cut off by the sound of their communicators going off. The yellow zeo ranger sighed, her shoulders visibly slumping.

"Hold that thought," Rocky said with a half smile.

The rangers all leaned forward; looking around the Youth Center clientele to be sure they weren't being eavesdropped on. Tommy brought his communicator up to his mouth and pressed a button on the side of the piece of technology. "We read you, Zordon," he said.

"Tommy, you must all report to the Power Chamber at once," Zordon said. There was an unmistakable amount of tension in his voice. Tommy lowered his communicator and they all teleported to the Power Chamber. As soon as they arrived Zordon instructed them to look at their viewing globe, noticing the image of something shooting across the screen. "There is no time to lose. As you can see on the viewing globe an assault from the forces of evil is eminent. The Machine Empire is mounting a full scale attack on Earth. We must initiate the Zeo Zords immediately."

"But Zordon," Billy piped up from where he, Bailey, and Fred were standing by Alpha, having been interrupted by the warning system that had gone off as soon as the attack started. "They haven't even been tested yet."

"We don't know if things will go aggro and malfunction," Bailey added.

Fred shook his head. "I don't think it's safe," he continued, smearing a mark of grease across his forehead.

"At this point we don't have a choice," Tommy reminded his friends. "The Zeo Zords are our only hope. It's always a risk whenever we have a monster to go up against. We took that risk with Ivan Ooze and we need to take that risk now."

"Tommy's right, guys," Kat agreed. "We have to stop the Machine Empire now."

"I'm behind you, bro." Avalon nodded. "Just tell me where to go and I'm there." She gave him a thumb's up. As much as she liked to mess with him when it came to their ranger duties she truly believed in his leadership abilities. Even with the Machine Empire being a worse threat than Rita and Zedd, she knew he could lead them to victory.

He nodded and the rangers turned their attention back to the viewing globe as Zordon spoke. "Rangers, come forward and listen." The image on the viewing globe changed to that of their Zeo Zords, more majestic and strong than before. "What I'm about to tell you is of the utmost importance. Katherine and Tanya, I have placed the responsibility of the Zeo Zords' arsenal in your hands. Zeo Zord I and Zeo Zord II have tremendous fire power. I trust you to use them with temperance and good judgment. Rocky and Adam, you will be commanding the driving forces of the Zeo Zords. Rocky, Zeo Zord III possessed the mythical power of the sphinx. Adam, Zeo Zord IV possesses the mighty strength of Taurus the bull. Avalon, you will be piloting Zeo Zord V, which possesses the strength and determination of the panda. And Tommy, Zeo Zord VI embodies the spirit of the phoenix. I know that its fierceness and nobility will serve you well as its pilot. The Zeo Zords are incredible machines but remember they are only machines. The most important resources you have to fight these new foes are your human attributes."

Avalon's eyebrows furrowed. _Our human attributes? What does that mean?_ It certainly couldn't mean they could fend off the Machine Empire all on its own. It would be too difficult, they were way too strong.

"What do you mean, Zordon?" Tanya asked the question out loud.

"Your hearts and minds are greater tools than anything that can be manufactured. The Machine Empire can never build anything that can compare to them." The rangers all looked around as the warning signal went off once more. Inside his Power Tube, Zordon shook his head.

"Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha cried. "It's just as we feared, Zordon, the Machine Empire has escalated its assault!"

"Behold the viewing globe." The rangers turned to find a star shaped monster blowing up the streets of Angel Grove with massive blasts from its face.

"We're ready, Zordon," Tommy declared. The rest of the rangers nodded in agreement.

"Be careful," Aisha wished them.

"We'll be here helping you out whenever you need it," Jason added. "We're right here behind you."

"Good luck, rangers," Zordon said.

"It's morphin time!" Tommy declared. "Power Rangers Zeo!" He and the rest of the rangers declared, summoning their morphers and bringing them together to unlock the power.

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger V, Orange!"

"Zeo Ranger VI, Red!"

Once the rangers morphed, they went to the holding bay that held onto their Zords and climbed into the seats that lowered them down into the cockpit of their zords. "Whoa," Avalon murmured as she looked around. The zord appeared as high-tech as the others, but as soon as her seat was clicked into place she could feel herself immediately creating the mental and spiritual connection that was needed to pilot the zord. After hearing that her zord was a panda she had been initially confused, but now she knew that it was right for her.

"Zeo Zord I, Ready!" Kat called.

"Zeo Zord II, Awesome!" Tanya said.

"Zeo Zord III, check this out!" Rocky called. He moved the handles of his zord and the mouth of the sphinx opened and roared loudly.

"Zeo Zord, IV, Ready!" Adam declared, lowering the head of the Taurus.

Avalon glanced out the front windshield of her zord and sighed lightly when she saw how high it was. "Hold on a minute," She said and pressed a button on the side of her seat, raising her chair until she could clearly see out the windshield. "Zeo Zord V is a beauty!" she said.

"Zeo Zord VI, Let's go!" Tommy concluded.

The bay doors in front of their zords opened and Tommy's phoenix zord rocketed out into the air while Rocky, Adam, and Avalon's zords, with chains attached to Kat's and Tanya's, ran out of the holding bay, towing the zords behind them. And the battle with the Machine Empire's quadrofighters was on. Tommy's zord shot through the air, shooting out missiles and blasts of energy to the quadrofighters, taking them down. Adam's Taurus zord lowered its head and charged directly through them. Avalon pulled her Panda Zord up onto its hind legs and batted a few of the quadrofighters out of the sky. Rocky opened the mouth of the Sphinx Zord and chomped down onto the quadrofighters, destroying them as Kat and Tanya shot blasts of energy out into the quadrofighters.

The fight raged on until Tommy was hit hard enough to knock the phoenix zord into power lines. The Staroid monster then turned its attention to the rangers and their zords and started sending blasts of energy into them.

"Look out!" Avalon cried and surged her zord to the side, knocking into Adams's so the blast heading his way missed him and struck her zord instead. She quickly brought her hands up to shield herself as cockpit exploded in a shower of sparks.

"Av! Are you okay?" Kat's voice came through the speakers of her zord.

"I'm alright," Av called back. "But this bloke hit me hard." _He's not going to get away with it, either._

Staroid then turned itself into the shape of a ball and pinballed its way through the rangers, knocking their zords over. Tommy tried with all of his might to pull his zord free from the power lines, but Staroid increased in brightness, turning red as it did so, increasing the heat around the rangers. Alarms started to go off inside the Zords, warning them of the critical levels of energy they were taking on.

"It's getting hot in here!" Tanya cried. "I don't know what to do!"

"I can't pull myself from these wires!" Tommy cried, still working the control of his zord.

"Tommy, you have to use the Zeonizer crystal to activate the Zeo Megazord!" Bailey said to him from the Power Chamber.

"It's the only thing that will keep your zords from overheating," Fred added. "And I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if they overheat."

"No, Fred, I don't think you do," Rocky said.

"You got it, guys!" Tommy said. "Zeonizer crystal, power up!"

"Zeonizer crystal, power up!" His friends all followed suit.

Their Zeo Zords then came together create the Zeo Megazord just as Staroid crashed to the ground where they had been before, blasting himself apart to its former form. Avalon held onto her seat as hers and the rest of the rangers moved to the new control area that would hold onto all of their zords. "Let's see what this baby can do!" Tommy said, clenching his hand into a fist.

"Right!" The friends agreed, each taking control of a portion of the zord.

Staroid immediately raced towards the Zeo Megazord and the two were locked in battle. Each kick Staroid sent their way was caught by the hands of the Zeo Megazord seconds before they would rebuttal with a punch that knocked them aside. Staroid and the Zeo Megazord locked hands and rocked back and forth as they tried to pull each other down to the ground.

Finally, Tommy called upon a weapon to help them out. "Zeo Megazord Saber, now!" He pressed a button on his control panel and a sword appeared in the Zeo Megazord's hand. They slashed it forward as Staroid shot towards them once more and sent him spiraling to the ground. It exploded, falling apart, seconds before coming back together in its spherical form.

"Man, this guy is tougher than I thought!" Avalon cried, her eyebrows rising. This was a weak monster that was obvious. The first ones were to test the rangers so the enemies could see what they were up against. But to have one that could pull itself back together? That was certainly a new one.

"Man, that overgrown starfish can't take a hint," Adam declared.

"We've got to use more power!" Tommy rasped out. He pulled on the levers in front of him and a glow appeared along the sword and the Zeo Megazord shot it forward, crashing into Staroid, eliminating it this time around. "Yeah!"

"Alright! We got him!" Tanya cheered.

"He's out of there!" Rocky added.

"Let's get back to the Power Chamber before it decides to come back again," Kat suggested with a light laugh causing the others to laugh along with her.

 _It certainly won't be easier than this,_ Avalon thought as they piloted their zords to break apart and go back into their hiding places. _If the Machine Empire really is as aggro as they say, it's only a matter of time until they find a way to finally defeat us._

* * *

Avalon brought her pool cue forward and watched as the front struck the white ball, sending it across the pool table and into the solid colored ball in front of it. She grinned as it fell into the corner pocket and took a step back so that she could see which the next best move could be. Sitting on a stool behind the table, Billy frowned, twisting his pool cue in his hands. The orange zeo ranger noticed and tilted her head to the side.

"You can't tell me that you're thinking about the zords again, Smurf," she said to him. She didn't care to look around to see if anyone had heard. There was too much going on, too many people enjoying their night to pay attention to the two of them on their date. "You're going to drive yourself crazy."

Billy shifted his gaze to her and she knew that her guess had been correct. "I knew they weren't ready," he insisted. "They could've fallen apart in battle. They could have overheated and failed and you guys would've been left there…" he trailed off and Avalon could see him tightening his grip on the pool cue, knowing he was either blaming himself or angry that he wasn't still a ranger so he could help.

Sighing heavily, Avalon walked over to him and pressed her hand under his chin, lifting it up so that he was forced to look her in the eye. "If something happened we know you'll be able to help us, Smurf. We had no choice but to defend our city and everyone within it. It's not anything you should be beating yourself up over, yeah?"

Billy shrugged and turned his gaze away. "If the Zoenizer crystals didn't work, things would have ended badly."

"And you _still_ would have been able to figuring something out. Not on your own, with Jason, and Aisha, and Bailey, and Fred. It's not all on you, we're your friends, we're there to help you." She kissed him then ruffled his hair, gently pushing him away and he managed a small smile. "Now are you going to take your shot? I missed."

"Why does it matter?" Billy got off the stool and examined the table, looking for the best way to take his shot. "You've been beating me the last two games. It's all just a game of geometry and physics and yet you still manage to beat me."

"Well, we all have to be good at something." She smiled impishly as she waited for her turn. "It's in our DNA." She and Billy shared a smile as she referenced their conversation from earlier that morning. At least she managed to take his mind off of it for a while. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Billy frowned and took a shot, sinking his striped ball.

"Well, look what we have here."

A chill ran down Avalon's spine as she turned around and found Summer and Skye standing behind her. The orange ranger's eyes shifted as she studied the area behind them, looking over the faces of the others within the pool hall. She should've known they would show up at some point or another. Though the High-Flyers had kept to themselves since she had arrived, she knew they were waiting to see if anything would break out they were needed for.

"What are you doing here?" Avalon asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Summer reached out and shoved the orange Zeo ranger hard on the shoulder, causing her to take a step back so she didn't fall over. "What makes you think you can show your face around here?"

"What makes _you_ think you can show your face around Angel Grove?" Avalon replied, eerily calm. Her hands clenched; one into a fist the other holding tightly onto the pool stick. "Lane is dead, Chase is in jail, and the police are looking for you."

"Really?" Skye rose his eyebrows and slowly moved so that he was standing on Avalon's other side, boxing her in-between the two. Avalon felt her muscles tense, waiting for the perfect time to strike. "Because they haven't found us so far. As a matter of fact, you've made a few false charges."

Her blood ran cold before burning with intense anger. They had been watching her this whole time. She knew that since the time the two had jumped her, taking her by surprise and singlehandedly took her down. It wasn't fair, she thought they were gone and they had caught her off-guard. But she was ready this time. "What do you want?" She asked. "I'm out, we already had this discussion. You can do what you want—"

"—you got Chase put in jail," Summer interrupted, shoving her again. Avalon crashed into Skye's chest.

"Ava," Billy called over to her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him edging closer to the group. Recognizing his stance, she could see he was readying himself for a battle as well. "Is everything okay?"

" _You_ got Chase put in jail," Avalon shot back, her anger blinding her. As a matter of fact she knew what the term 'seeing red' meant. She momentarily went blind due to intense rage. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be able to be happy, to live the life she wanted with no gang around. She was out. She wasn't going to get brought back into this mess again. "Because you couldn't _fucking_ stand that I was getting out and you had _nothing_! I did everything Chase told me to do in return for being able to walk away. Free. And you had to bloody ruin it! And now you're dwelling and you're stuck and you can't stand that, either."

Summer gave her a cruel, malicious smile. Her eyes were dead with no life in them. "You're going to pay for that and for everything else you've done to me," she whispered. For a moment Avalon wasn't sure what Summer was doing, and then she recognized the movement of Summer's hand, as if in slow motion, coming up towards her.

She had a gun.

Reacting quickly, Avalon brought up her pool cue and whacked the gun down out of the way. It went off and she could hear the sound of the bullet whizzing by her ear. The sound of the gunshot brought a sudden chaos. Chairs and stools were knocked over as the patrons raced to get to cover. Swinging the pool cue around, Avalon caught Summer on the side of the head then shoved it into her stomach before grabbing the girl's head and pulling it down, kneeing her in the face. Summer shrieked in rage as she dropped the gun and brought her hands up to pull Avalon's off of her. Then the two were spinning around, trying to knock each other off balance.

Avalon gasped in pain as her back crashed against the pool table and she was forced off her feet with Summer on top of her. Hearing the sound of a punch being thrown behind her, Avalon twisted her head to the side and managed to catch a glimpse of Billy ducking and weaving out of the way as Skye tried to punch him, finally grasping the upper hand and used his martial arts training to subdue Skye within a few moments.

Turning her attention back to Summer, Avalon felt something cold press against her neck and realized the Viper member had a knife to her throat. She brought her feet up underneath her and pressed it against Summer's chest, pushing out as hard as she could. Summer fell back away from Avalon and fell to the floor. Crouching atop the pool table like a bird waiting for its prey, Avalon glared down at the girl then leapt atop of her, quickly maneuvering her around so that she was pinned to the floor.

"Get off me!" Summer bucked and thrashed around, trying to throw the orange ranger off, but Avalon was tired and done with her past creeping up behind her whenever she wasn't looking. "You bitch; I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Avalon leaned out of the way of the flailing arms and legs until she was forced off and landed on the ground. Looking up, she found Lt. Stone standing over her, pulling Summer's arms behind her back with handcuffs. Pulling herself to her feet she found Skye being led away by another officer. A breath of relief escaped her throat and she brought a hand up to her neck, smearing the bead of blood that rested on her neck before turning and allowed herself to be hugged by her boyfriend. She buried her face into his chest and held onto him tightly.

"I'm sorry," Lt. Stone apologized to her before leaving with Summer. It was okay. Everything was okay. It didn't matter that he hadn't believed her before. It didn't matter she originally thought she had been going crazy. Now that they were being sent to jail, nothing mattered.

It was finally over.


	53. Green With Guilt III

**Chapter 53**

_Green With Guilt III_

* * *

Tommy pulled his long hair back behind his shoulders and grabbed his sports bag. He was already late for meeting up with Jason at Ernie's so that they could get some practice in. Not only that, but he was already running late on studying for the test that was to be taken at the end of the week. Slinging his bag over his shoulder he hurried down stairs to take his water bottle with him, slowing to a stop as he moved by the living room. Pausing for a moment, he titled his head to the side before walking backwards into the doorway once more.

At first he wanted to smile and laugh, but then his big brother instincts—of which he didn't even really knew he had—kicked in and he frowned deeply. Crossing his arms over his chest, he took a step forward and cleared his throat. As soon as he did so Bailey and Fred, who were wrapped up in an embrace on the couch, immediately leapt apart, grabbing for the books that rested on the table in front of him.

Doing his best not to laugh the Red Zeo Ranger firmly pressed his lips together. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing!" Bailey squeaked; face red from behind her textbook.

"Homework!" Fred added.

"Nothing!"

Tommy's eyes lowered and he managed to give out a small snort before crossing the living room in a few quick strides. "Homework, huh?" He reached out and grabbed onto Bailey's book, causing her to lower her head and bring her hand up to her forehead. "Then why is your book upside down?" He closed it in his hand, glancing at the cover.

"Uh, Tommy, aren't you going to be late for the gym?" Fred piped up. He had picked up his hat and turned it around so that the brim cast a shadow over his face. "You're supposed to meet up with Jason aren't you?"

Mentally, Tommy cursed himself before looking at his watch. He was going to be even later now. That didn't mean the two of them were off the hook. "I am," he agreed and handed his little sister back the textbook. "But don't think we're not going to talk about this later."

"Tommy," Bailey whined, gazing up at him in dismay.

He reached out and ruffled her hair before turning back to Fred, raising an eyebrow. "You have some lip-gloss smeared on your chin."

"Tommy!" Bailey shouted.

With a light laugh, though there was nothing to laugh about, Tommy raced to the kitchen and grabbed his water bottle before hurrying out to his car. He threw his bag into the passenger seat and climbed behind the wheel. He paused, glancing into the rearview mirror, finding the green ranger staring back at him. If the ranger had demorphed he was sure he would see a malicious version of himself, smirking as he stared into his eyes, waiting for the right moment so that he could finally get Tommy to give into the constant guilt that nagged him. Even with Rita and Zedd being gone there was always a part of him that was going to align with evil, he knew that for sure.

He felt it every time he was in battle. He had to hold himself back whenever in battle so that he didn't completely lose control and fall back into the completely vicious and ruthless means of fighting that he had inflicted upon the other rangers. Even if he managed to break free from Rita's spell it was still in him somewhere.

Closing his eyes, he shook his head and grabbed onto his keys, turning them in the ignition and starting up the car. He quickly backed out of the driveway and headed towards Ernie's, making a mental note to talk to Avalon about Bailey's relationship with Fred. He hadn't expected to have to deal with something like this so soon. Her first period he could handle, he didn't have to see anything and all he had to do was go somewhere and buy something. But a boyfriend. That was different.

 _It's kind of like what happened with Kim,_ he reminded himself with a light shake of his head. It was still so hard to believe that Mrs. Hart, who had been so open to her daughter dating him in the first place had quickly turned around and didn't want them to have a relationship all because they were moving too quickly for her. _It's probably the only time Kim hated sharing so much with her mother._ He shook his head, trying to keep from feeling annoyed and hurt as he had been then. He felt that Mrs. Hart was like another mother to him while they had been together and seeing how quickly she had turned their opinion around on their relationship had blindsided him.

Shaking his head, Tommy turned his gaze from the rearview mirror and focused on the road as he drove to the Youth Center. Once arriving he immediately went into the locker room and changed into his gi before heading out onto the floor to meet with Jason. He found his best friend sitting on the end of a weight bench, curling a dumb bell in his right hand. Jason looked over as he Tommy entered the room and slowly dropped the weight to the ground.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Tommy apologized, running his hand over his hair. "There was something I had to take care of before I—"

"—don't worry about it, man," Jason interrupted. He stood up and nudged Tommy on the arm. "It happens. Let's just get started now." He stepped around the Red Zeo Ranger and moved to the center of the mat that rested on the floor.

Tommy raised an eyebrow as he placed his hands on his hips. This wasn't the Jason he knew. Jason was the one that always went on about him being punctual and what it means to be a good person through the practicing of martial arts and how it adds value and morals to those that allow it into their lives. It usually ended with Jason making fun of Tommy for always managing to forget meeting times, homework, and sometimes things he had just been told a few hours beforehand. Not to mention the numerous times he had to make multiple trips to his locker before he remembered to get what it was he needed to retrieve the first time.

"Let's get started," Jason said, rubbing his hands together. "I think a few minutes of sparring to start and then we can see where to go from there."

"O..kay…" Tommy grabbed a sweatband and pulled it down around his forehead, being sure to keep his hair out of his eyes. He then stepped onto the mat and stretched his arms and legs for a moment before walking up to Jason. He slapped his hands to his sides and bowed, prompting Jason to do the same before the two moved back into a fighting position.

Tommy shuffled back and forth on the mat for a few moments before Jason started forward, aiming at him with a high kick towards his head. Bringing up his hands, Tommy deflected Jason's foot away from his face and threw an elbow over towards him, causing Jason to grab him by the elbow and throw him around. Tommy landed lightly on his feet and did a butterfly kick to propel himself even further away from Jason. He then threw a series of punches and kicks at the former leader of the rangers each and every one of them being blocked. It was a bit frustrating, they two had always been evenly matched when it came to their fighting skills but to still not know who was the victor in their fights did nothing but increase their friendly competition.

Jason held a tiny smirk on his face as he continued to fight against Tommy. The two continued to fend off each other's punches and kicks. All of a sudden he felt a sense of rage fall over him and his fighting became erratic. He could see Jason's eyes narrow in confusion but he continued to match Tommy's blows evenly. Gritting his teeth, Tommy continued to increase the speed of his punches and kicks, doing a series of three spinning kicks in a row before ducking to the floor and doing a judo sweep. As Jason tripped, Tommy grabbed onto the front of his wife beater and started to throw him around.

"Tommy!" Jason cried, landing on his feet. He backed up a few paces to keep enough distance between the two of them. "What are you doing, man? Are you okay?" Tommy sucked in a deep breath and took a step back. His eyes shifted over Jason's face then his body, trying to figure out the best place to strike next. Holding up his hands, Jason now took a step forward. "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" Tommy ran a hand over his hair. "Are we going to keep sparring or what?"

"Yeah, but—"

Tommy didn't give Jason a chance to finish his response before he grabbed him again and rolled backwards, moving their sparring into more of a wrestling match than martial arts. But Jason rolled with the punches—literally—and flipped back to his feet. He stumbled for a second; jostling a petite blonde teen that was making her way around the mat. Standing up straight, Tommy's eyes widened as Jason regained his balance and turned around to grab the arm of the teenage girl to keep her from falling over.

"I'm sorry," Jason quickly apologized to her. "I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, maybe next time you better watch where you're going!" The girl snapped back, wrenching her hand out of Jason's wrist. "Do you always run people over like you own the place? Or is it just for me?"

"It was my fault," Tommy apologized. He walked over to Jason's side, resting a hand on his chest. The feeling of rage was gone just as quickly as it had come. "I wasn't paying attention to where we were on the mat. It wasn't very safe. I should've watched where I was going."

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her red lips, blue eyes shifting back and forth between the two. "Well next time act like there're more people in the world than just yourselves!" She shifted her backpack up her shoulders and turned, bringing her free hand up to the elephant necklace that rested around her neck, and walked over to the counter in short, angry strides.

"Sorry," Jason called again.

Tommy let out a low whistle under his breath. "Wow, doesn't really sound like she's in the mood for apologies today," he said. He crossed his arms, mimicking her stance from a few moments before. "Doesn't seem like she's in the mood for talking to anyone, actually," he added watching as she barked an order at Ernie, who hastily moved to fill it.

"Yeah…"Jason agreed, still watching her. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I saw her earlier with a group of these biker guys…they seemed to be up to something." He shrugged, turning back towards the mats. "I mentioned it to Ernie and he said he'd keep an eye on things."

"Bikers huh?" Tommy asked. He had heard about an increase in biker mischief throughout Angel Grove over the last couple of years. It wasn't anything that he normally would have paid attention to, especially considering they hadn't given him much trouble before. If what Jason was saying was true and that girl was part of them, then there might be an issue with Ernie's and he wouldn't have that.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. He nodded over towards the girl. "And Emily was hanging around them earlier today, down in the alley behind Ernie's. It can't be good she's in here now."

"Right, maybe we should…" Tommy trailed off as he suddenly realized something. "Emily?" He asked, turning to face Jason completely. Jason looked at him out of the corner of his eye and pressed his lips together. "How'd you know her name was Emily?"

"I heard one of them mention it when I got here," Jason replied. He finally turned from the girl and faced his best friend, looking hard into his eyes. Tommy slowly smiled. Busted. The former Red Ranger didn't ever seem to have been interested in other girls at Angel Grove High, Kimberly even mentioned how she didn't remember him ever having had shown an expressed interest in someone, and now here he was. "What?"

"Nothing." Tommy shrugged. "Just that you like her."

"I don't even know her," Jason insisted. "And besides, I'm just keeping an eye out for Ernie. You never know the kinds of trouble they can bring." He shrugged, arms still crossed over his chest and turned to walk back onto the mat. "Anyway, why don't we try that combination again?" He raised his eyebrows and gazed at Tommy. "Unless you want to try and kill me."

The Red Zeo Ranger let out a long sigh, turning his back to his friend. What was he supposed to say? That he kept seeing the Green Ranger everywhere? And if he did, what would he say? That he was crazy or that there was something that should be looked into? But what did they need to check out.

 _"How about that it's all your fault that the ranger team is falling apart?"_ He heard the Green Ranger say. _"They didn't have to leave and go do their own thing. But you didn't stop them. You may as well have pushed them away."_

Tommy shook his head.

It wasn't true.

" _Oh, but it is. Jason, Zack, and Trini could have stayed if you told them to. But what did they have here in Angel Grove to keep them here?"_

"Our friends…" Tommy whispered.

"What?" Jason asked, taking a step closer to him.

" _What friends?"_ The evil Green Ranger appeared in front of him, arms crossed over his chest as he let out a low, evil laugh. The same sort of laugh Tommy had given when he was still the Green Ranger, watching the other Power Rangers as they fell to his attacks. How he had managed to tear down the Command Center with ease. " _You don't have any friends left. These new guys are taking over. Jason, Zack, and Trini saw how close you were with the new guys that took their place and left. And your girlfriend….she couldn't stand you. She was so angry that she had to constantly be rescued by you that she worked to get stronger and put herself in the hospital."_

No.

" _Even her mother couldn't stand what you had done to her. And now you're running off Billy, Aisha, and Bailey. All because you don't have what it takes to be a true leader. You destroyed the Thunderzords singlehandedly all because you didn't know what you were doing. You're unfit to be a leader and unfit to be a friend."_

"No!"

The word escaped Tommy's lips and before he could stop himself he shot his fit out towards the evil Green Ranger, putting his weight behind it. He heard startled cries seconds before his fist was deflected and he found himself lying on his back on the ground. His body exploded in pain.

"Oh! Tommy, I'm so sorry!"

"What are _you_ sorry about, Trini; he was the one that almost hit you." Then he heard the familiar giggle that he couldn't get out of his head or his heart. "But he really did deserve it." Then the scent of a flowery perfume wafted over him and he shifted his gaze up to find Kimberly kneeling over him, arms wrapped around her knees and smiling brightly at him. "Hey Handsome," she greeted him. "I think you stole from me; _I'm_ the one that's supposed to do the fainting, remember?" She giggled again.

Tommy could only imagine the expression of surprise on his face. It had to have been comical because he could hear Jason and Trini laughing quietly over them as well. Tommy pushed himself up to his elbows and stared at his girlfriend, eyes searching her face. Was she really there? He reached out a hand and rested it on her cheek. She was. The two smiled at each other before leaning in at the same time and kissed. Tommy then pulled back and held her face in his hands.

"Hey Beautiful," he said to her.

"So…are they the only ones here?" Trini's voice sounded in Tommy's ears.

"Looks like it," Jason agreed.

Kimberly rolled her eyes and grabbed Tommy's arm, pulling him to his feet before going over to Jason and giving him a tight hug. "It's so good to see you guys. _Both_ of you." She backed away, beaming brightly.

"It's good to see you, too," Tommy agreed, giving Trini a hug. He smiled sheepishly at her. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to attack you like that."

"I should be apologizing to you," Trini replied with an air of humility. "I guess it was just a reflex after having fought off Rita and Zedd for so long." She clasped her hands together as she looked around the Youth Center. "It doesn't look like much has changed." Then she zeroed in on his clothes. "Except for your favorite color…"

Kimberly's eyes widened. "You're the red ranger now?"

"It's a long story," Jason said with a wave of his hand. "What are you doing here? I thought you were…" he trailed off, unsure how to continue with the statement. It was what Tommy had been thinking. Kimberly did look better, she had her familiar glow to her cheeks and smile and yet she still appeared so thin. As a matter of fact as warm as it was that day, she was wearing a light jacket, hands shoved into the pockets.

"Don't worry about it guys, we'll explain," Trini said, holding up her hands. She was smiling as brightly as she always had, though there was still the silent strength to her. "But it'd be great if we could do it all at once, to see everyone else?"

"I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to get the gang together," Jason said, sharing a knowing smile with Tommy. "As a matter of fact, I think I know where they are."

Tommy's smile widened as he turned back, his eyes locking on with Kimberly's. He could feel her radiated warmth fill his body from his head to his toes, pushing aside any and all thoughts of the evil green ranger.

* * *

"Well it seems that if Rita and Zedd were able to create such formidable foes in their horoscope monsters, why can't we create some of their own," Queen Machina remarked. She brought a hand up to her mouth, feigning a yawn. "It was so _boring_ watching Rita and Zedd continue to be defeated by those sniveling brats over and over again."

"Mother, you seem to be forgetting that we were just defeated as well," Prince Gaskett commented gently. Archerina elbowed him in the side and he waved a hand. "I'm just saying that there is a chance they're stronger than we anticipate. They got rid of Staroid very quickly."

"Staroid was just a means to examine their powers," Queen Machina replied. She went over to her son and gently ran her hand down the side of his face. "Please be patience, my son. This is something we have to think long and hard about." She walked over to Prince Sprockett and picked him up into her arms. "Don't worry my darling; you will see the end of the Power Rangers before you know it. Now that we know what we're up against."

"Are you sure, Mommy?" Prince Sprockett asked, staring up at her. "I want to beat them so badly. They were mean the way they destroyed Daddy's monster!" He pouted as he clung to his mother, giving her a hug before she placed him back on the ground once more. He then scampered over to his father and tapped him on the leg. "Daddy! Make them stop!"

"Patience my boy, we'll think of something," King Mondo said. He brought up a hand and ran it along his chin. "But what? Staroid was just something sent out to see what they can do. They're not _that_ difficult to deal with, but there has to be something that can stop them. We've already taken down numerous galaxies and planets, this one can't be so hard."

He looked over as Klank cleared his throat. "If it helps there are a few monsters I think that may be of some service," Klank said. He motioned to Orbus. "We had them brought over from the last planet we conquered. It is something that'll create a doozy for the rangers the next time they come around to fight us off."

King Mondo and Queen Machina exchanged curious glances. Then King Mondo let out a low, cruel laugh that reverberated from deep within him until he was laughing loudly. Dropping his staff, he placed his hands on his stomach; the sounds of the metal screws keeping him together squeaked and churned as he continued to laugh. Prince Sprockett's eyes widened before he hurried over to his mother.

"Mommy! Daddy's scaring me!"

"Your father is just excited dear," Queen Machina replied in a low, loving tone. She reached out and stroked her husband's face." He had realized there is something we will be able to do to keep the rangers at bay so we can conquer this planet with ease."

"Yes, my dear, yes," King Mondo declared. He picked up his staff and walked over to Klank and Orbus. "Well what are you waiting for? Send them out here! Or shall I call for them myself?" Klank held up his hands and motioned to a darkened area of the lair behind them.

"There will be no need for you to worry sir," Klank said. He placed his hand on his chest. "They have already arrived." He motioned behind him as there were the sounds of mechanical gears turning then out of the shadows came seven machine monsters; a peacock, a snake, a snail, a lion, a toad, a goat, and a pig. All of their eyes glowed with the fiercest hue that radiated their pure evil. "Let me introduce them to you, here we have Sperbia, Invidia, Acedia, Ira, Avaritia, Luxuria, and Gula."

"Ahh," King Mondo nodded. "The Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, Lust, and Gluttony. Yes, these monsters shall be the ones to take down the power rangers. It may not be easy but I'll have a great time watching their downfall." He walked back and forth in front of the monsters, looking them over before coming to a stop in front of Sperbia the peacock of Pride. "I believe I'll start with you. I already have some ideas where you would be useful…"


	54. Aftershocks

**Chapter 54**

_Aftershocks_

* * *

Stretching his arms over his head, Adam closed his eyes and let to a long, slow breath to calm down his thoughts and feelings. He needed to be completely calm, one with his inner self, his inner frog spirit if he were to accomplish total trust in his abilities. Opening his eyes, Adam's hands and feet moved in a blur as he moved through the punches and kicks that had become second nature since he had started martial arts. Every now and then he would jump high into the air in a spinning kick or an evasive move as well as throwing in a few flips and ducks.

Even as sweat dripped down the sides of his face and rolled into his eyes, he continued to punch kick and spin, fighting and invisible enemy. Finally, with a running start, he did a front flip into a butterfly kick that ended with him in a fighting pose. He then stood up straight, pressed his hands to the sides of his legs, and bent forward as if bowing to an opponent. Then he allowed himself to relax and turn back to his things so that he could wipe his face with a towel and get a drink of water.

"Hi, Adam."

He looked up and smiled at Sabrina as she stood by the shade of the tree, hands clasped together behind her back, the light breeze moving her dress against her legs. She beamed at him as he approached. "Hey," he greeted her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just taking a walk," Sabrina said. She used one hand to brush her hair behind her ears. "It's such a beautiful day don't you think? I see you're taking advantage, getting some practice in?"

"Yeah, I haven't been paying so much attention to it," Adam agreed. He roughed a towel over his face before resting it on his shoulder. "I've had so much to do lately…" like cog attacks, his homework, chores, wondering how long it would take for there to be an evil monster allegiance that would manage to take him and the rest of the rangers out. The usual. "It's good to be able to take some time to myself."

"Do you want a partner?" Sabrina asked. Adam's eyebrows rose at the suggestion, making quick note of her state of dress. "Don't worry; I'm wearing shorts underneath my dress. I'm not going to flash you or anything." Adam felt his face heat up and Sabrina grinned, moving to the clearing, tying her hair up into a ponytail as she did so. "C'mon! I've always wanted to see who was the better one out of the two of us."

Adam grinned and took another long sip of his water. "You're asking for it," he warned her. "I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I hope you don't." Sabrina's smile continued to widen. It was actually starting to get a bit creepy. Finally, Adam moved over into the sunlight and stood across from Sabrina. The two bowed at each other and Sabrina's smile finally faded. It was serious now. She made the first move, as quick as lightning, and launched herself towards him with a high kick. Adam brought his hands up and knocked her backwards away from him and returned it with a series of high kicks that Sabrina easily evaded.

Over and over the two attacked and defended against each other. They shouted out their kiais as they went, fighting as hard as they could. Sabrina had a determined frown on her face, seeming to know every attack Adam was going to do before he did it. Then she was on the offensive and Adam had to work hard to keep himself from getting hit by her.

"Sabrina!"

But she kept going.

Didn't she realize she was actively trying to knock his head off? Adam flung his arms left and right to keep Sabrina back as hard as he could, but was starting to tire. She was fighting with all of her might and he was doing his second round of sparring after already having worked hard on his practice before. Sabrina let out a cry as she did a jump kick that he hadn't anticipated, and struck him in the chest as hard as she could. With a cry of pain, Adam fell back onto the ground and winced, curling up into a ball as he waited for the pain to subside. Sabrina stood over him, smiling down at her.

"Sabrina…" he coughed, sending pain rippling through his body once more. "What are you doing?"

Tilting her head to the side, Sabrina stared down at him. "Getting revenge," she said. Then she slowly started to morph, gaining golden armor and a large, deadly looking sword in her hand. Adam continued to stare at her, unable to move. The pain continued to spread across his chest down to the rest of his body, paralyzing him. His eyes widened as Scorpina stood in front of him laughing down at him.

"Oh look at you, your pathetic little slug," Scorpina sneered. "I was hoping you'd put up a better fight than this." She flipped her sword up into her hand and poised it directly over Adam. He held up a hand, silently pleading for Sabrina…Scorpina to change her mind. To give them some time to talk. But he realized with growing dread as her eyes continued to brighten with an evil flame. "But I'll enjoy killing you anyway."

It was then Adam realized that he had been stung. Scorpina had poisoned him somehow, keeping him against the ground, unable to move and at the mercy of whatever it was that was coursing through his veins. His chest started to tighten, sweat erupting throughout his entire body. He stated to shake, body wracked with chills. In despair, Adam watched as Scorpina grinned, blood dripping from her teeth.

She smiled even wider, blood flowing down her chin and dripping onto the ground, and shoved her sword directly through his heart.

"Adam!" The green zeo ranger let out a cry of surprise as a hand landed on his shoulder. He whirled around and stared at Kimberly, eyes wide. It took him a moment to realize that he hadn't been stabbed, that he hadn't been poisoned, and that Scorpina wasn't waiting to attack him at a moment's notice. No. The former pink ranger was standing in front of him, gazing at him in surprise and concern. "Adam, are you okay?" She gave him a small smile as the seconds passed and he blinked at her.

Then it registered who he was looking at. "Kim!" He reached out and hugged her tightly, startled at how thing she continued to feel despite how healthy she looked. "What are you doing here?" He took a step back and looked behind her shoulder to find Tommy, Jason, and Trini standing behind her as well. "Trini, wow, what are you doing here?" He brought a hand up to his forehead then took a step back. "I'm sorry, I'm really sweaty."

"It's alright, I understand how it is," Kimberly said. "I mean, you can't expect to fend off Angel Grove without breaking into a little bit of a sweat, right?"

"And to think there was a time that you absolutely hated it," Trini remarked. She put her arm around Kimberly's shoulder and hugged her close to her side. "Who was the one that said something about not being able to do it because of the way the helmet messed up their hair?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Kimberly rolled her eyes. She then clasped her hands together. "So? Where's everyone else? I can't wait to see them!"

"Oh that's simple," Tommy said with a wave of his hand. "We'll just go to the Power Chamber." He pressed a button on the side of his communicator and called the rangers to their base. The he pressed another button on the side of the device and teleported to the power rangers' headquarters. As soon as they arrived there were multiple colors of light that signaled the arrival of the other rangers as well as their non-ranger friends.

As soon as Kimberly and Trini were spotted excited screams and shouts erupted all over the Power Chamber from the rangers, their friends, as well as Alpha, who malfunctioned through his excitement. Even Zordon got in on the chatter with the rangers.

"Guys, this is Tanya Sloan," Adam introduced the African teen. "She's an exchange student here and she's the new yellow power ranger." Tanya smiled and waved to the two girls. She hadn't heard much about them so far, just that Kat and Aisha had taken the places of them, that they used to be part of the original team. Now they were meeting for the first time and Tanya didn't know what to say. It was a big legacy she was part of and she had to fill the shoes of two that came before her. "Tanya, this is Kimberly and Trini."

Trini smiled and walked over to Tanya, holding out her hand. "It's so nice to meet the new yellow ranger," She remarked, causing Tanya to beam. "You're going to do a great job if the power chose you. It believes in you and your abilities to help protect the city." She smiled warmly at the newest member of the team. "You're going to do an amazing job, I know it."

"How have you been doing, Kat?" Kimberly asked the pink ranger. She grasped the girl's arm and gave her a beaming smile. "I'm sure the crane has treated you well."

"It has," Kat agreed, squeezing Kimberly's hand just as tightly. "She has protected me just as well as she has you. Thank you for allowing me to take on her power. But I've got my own set of powers now. The Zeo Powers."

"Zeo Powers?"

"Yeah, they have a new set of powers coming from the Zeo Crystal," Bailey explained. "The Zeo Crystal gets stronger over time so that means the rangers are going to get stronger and stronger as time goes on. Hopefully there will be nothing that stands in their way." She motioned between herself, Fred, Jason, Billy, and Aisha. "We stay here in the Power Chamber and help them out during battle."

Kimberly and Trini smiled as they exchanged glances. They knew how those that had been rangers before and to suddenly live a normal life. It was hard, very hard. Instead of waking up every day wondering what sort of adventure was going to be brought to them, they were given everyday mundane things to work through. It had always been a question in the backs of their minds, what would happen if they were given the opportunity to finally defeat Rita and Zedd and they didn't need to protect the city anymore? It was never truly their reality and now that it was the shift was harder than they anticipated.

"So this is the new set up," Trini remarked, looking around the Power Chamber. "And it's under the ground where the Command Center used to be?"

"Precisely," Zordon agreed. "Alpha and I created it in the chance something were to happen with Rita and Zedd. It has proven to be a useful place for us to be undetected and to watch and see what the Machine Empire has for us."

"The Machine Empire?" Kimberly repeated. Her nose wrinkled. "It sounds like a brand of kitchen appliances."

"We could only be so lucky," Aisha said. She placed her hands on her hips. "So far the rangers were able to easily defeat the first monster, but we all know it's never going to be that easy. The first ones are the easiest. Even then the Machine Empire are the ones that ran off Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile."

"So you _know_ they're bad news," Rocky added.

"But if we can beat them their monsters, Ivan and his Oozeman, the Tengas, and the first monster the Machine Empire sent our way, I think we can safely say that the Machine Empire won't be a problem, yeah?" Avalon added. She cleared her throat then changed the subject. "So what are you doing back in Angel Grove?" She paused, grimacing for a moment when Fred gave her a look and realized she may have said something wrong. "I mean…you know…"

"Good to know you still have the ability to put your feet into your mouth, Avie," Jason remarked, receiving a slap to the arm.

Kimberly waved her hand before looping her arm through Tommy's. "It's alright, I'm sure you all were thinking it."

"Yeah, but she's the only one that would say it out loud," Adam remarked, causing the Orange Zeo Ranger to pout even further. He cleared his throat. "How _are_ you feeling, Kim? Is everything going alright?"

"Everything's fine," she said with her familiar sense of enthusiasm. "I mean, I guess it's going slowly, I don't think I'll be completely out of treatment for a few months. But I'm making progress. My doctors said I was clear to come back to Angel Grove for the weekend so long as I call them every day to tell them if I'm struggling. Plus, they realized how much I missed you guys and how important to me you are."

"It's good to have you back, Kim," Tommy said with a smile that was only for her.

"It's good to be back."

Trini made a face that was a mixture of an amused smile and a pained expression and Billy quickly piped up. "It's good to have you back, too, Trini." He crossed his arms, eyebrows rising. "Actually, I'm really excited to hear about your adventures while traveling. I'm sure going from the American culture to the Vietnamese one back to the American culture must be hard to adjust to."

Laughing quietly, Trini pushed her long hair behind her shoulders. "You have no idea," she remarked. "But the sights were amazing and I enjoyed getting to meet all of my family." She looked around at the group. "I have a lot of stories to tell and some pictures to show you guys if you have the time."

"I'd certainly enjoy that," Billy agreed.

"Rangers," Zordon's voice boomed over the group. "It is good to see all of your together again. It is very sad the team isn't complete as Zack couldn't join us. But a reunion of those that have become bonded over the responsibilities that have been bestowed upon them." He smiled down at the rangers. "I am pleased to see that you still hold the sense of power and responsibility that had been bestowed upon you since the beginning. I know it is hard to make the decision to leave and better yourselves but know that I am still very proud of you."

"You have left your powers in very capable hands," Alpha agreed. "And while we miss you so much we want you to know that your efforts in our battle against evil have not been forgotten.

Adam smiled and nodded along with the others. He probably should have added to the conversation but he had no place to break in. It didn't bother him that much anyway; he was always sort of quiet and preferred to listen to conversations sometimes. There was nothing wrong with standing back and letting the others dominate the conversation every now and then. Especially now. While he was glad that two former rangers had come back for a sort of reunion, he couldn't get his dream out of his head. He could still hear the sound of Scorpina's loud, cruel laughter in his ears, still feel the sword move through his body, still feeling the poison pumping through his veins.

It felt so real.

"Adam, are you okay?" Billy's voice broke through his thoughts and Adam looked around, realizing that the rangers were leaving the chamber. "Kim and Trini wanted a tour of the Power Chamber, but I couldn't help but notice you were kind of quiet…quieter than usual." His face was an expression of true concern. "I mean, you can be quiet but it looks like something's spooked you."

"No, not really," Adam started. But Billy gave him a knowing look and the Green Zeo ranger let out a low sigh, turning his head away. Maybe if he didn't look Billy in the eye, or was tempted to look at him, he wouldn't feel so strange about everything that was going on. "I've been having some strange dreams lately. Nightmares that I can't wake out of…daydreams that I seem to be paralyzed in. It's the same thing every time."

"What happens in them?"

"I'm sparring. No matter where I am, I'm sparring. And I'm doing a good job, then Sabrina shows up and we talk a little bit and she starts to spar with me. Things are okay at first, we're practicing like normal. Then she gets a good kick on me and I can't move. My chest is burning, I'm covered in sweat, I start to shake and shiver and the entire time I can't move. Sabrina's just standing over me and I'm struggling to move a finger a toe, but nothing. I'm gasping for air but I can't…then Sabrina morphs into Scorpina and she kills me. She puts her sword directly through my chest. I can either force myself to wake up, to come out of my daydream, other times it goes on and on with Scorpina continuously stabbing me unless someone forcibly wakes me up."

"How long has this been going on?"

Adam turned back to Billy and stared at him. There was a strange tone to his voice. Sort of tense as if waiting to pounce on the end of Adam's explanation. As Adam continued to stare at him, Billy repeated the question, this time his tone very tense. "A little while. A couple of months."

"I thought so." Billy ran a hand over his moth before turning and resting his hands on the edge of the control panel in front of him. "I was afraid this would happen form the very beginning, but I presume it took longer for things to manifest because we were constantly focused on Rita's attacks. Now that the Machine Empire is taking their time and we have more down time, I believe we're getting more time off, more time to get into our heads and allow our thoughts and fears to be actualized."

"What do you mean?"

Now Billy turned back to his friend. "I mean that we're all suffering from the same things those that go off to war suffer from. There are experiences people can't get over and will haunt them for the rest of their lives, those that come back from war can be transported back onto the battlefield because the sound of a firework resembles explosives. Waking up in the middle of the night with the worst nightmares ever imaginable, it can change people just as much as it can slowly kill them from the inside out. In many ways we're part of that war, we're going to experience some things that no one else would ever have to see. We've had to face some of the worst monsters ever imaginable and that's not anything we're ever going to get over anytime soon."

"So you're saying we're all suffering from something?" Adam clarified.

"I should've seen it sooner with Kim and her eating disorder. It was a way for her to cope, with not being good enough. It's a metal disorder that can be caused by depression. Everything we've seen…everyone we've lost…" Billy shook his head, silent for a long time. "We're doing our best, fighting off as many of them as we can. What if we do that…but we still don't succeed?"

The sound of the warning alarm went off, showing off a set of cogs arriving down in Angel Grove. "Looks like we don't have much time to talk about it," Billy said. He moved to the control panels and started to press buttons before looking at a scanner. "That's weird, it looks like there's something down there with the, the sensors are indicating it, but I don't see anything on the scanner."

"Then we'll just have to keep on our guard," Adam said. "The cogs won't be an issue. We'll figure out what's going on."

"Be careful," Billy warned. "See if you can get an idea of what it is and report back. There's no need to get destroyed already." He managed a half smile as Adam rolled his eyes, turning his attention to his friends as they raced back into the room. "Be careful."

"You got it," Tommy agreed. "It's morphin' time!"

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger V, Red!"

"Zeo Ranger VI, Orange!"

* * *

The rangers arrived and were immediately knocked off their feet and crashed hard to the ground. Groaning, they got to their feet and looked up to see the cogs advancing on them, behind them a large purple peacock monster hovering above the ground. Its purple wings blurred as they moved as fast as a humming bird.

"That explains why the sensors didn't pick him up. Something in its wings and the movements of the bloody wings are making it so that it is undetectable." Bailey said to them. She paused and sniffed indignantly. "It stole my color too."

"Be careful with this one guys, we don't know what I can do," Jason added.

"He's right." Billy sounded stressed already. "This isn't a monster we've seen before and considering how it can get by undetected, it may be stronger than it's letting on. Plus we haven't been around the Machine Empire yet, so be on your guard."

Adam scrambled to his feet with the rest of his friends, watching as the cogs moved closer to the, starting to send blasts of their lasers from their eyes towards them. Rolling out of the way, Adam came back up onto his knee and watched as the peacock landed on the ground and cawed once more, scratching its foot against the ground, creating three deep trenches in the dirt.

"You guys handle the cogs," Tommy declared. "I'll take care of the feathered freak myself!"

Sperbia let out a loud caw as it glowed a bright purple. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear!"


	55. Some Good News

**Chapter 55**

_Some Good News_

* * *

With a battle cry, the rangers shot forward towards their intended targets. While Kat, Rocky, Tanya, Adam, and Avalon took on the cogs, Tommy immediately raced forward to take down the purple parrot that mocked him. He first leapt over the head of the monster and landed in a low crouch before turning around and knocking it in the face with a back kick. Superbia started to fall over but with a quick flap of his wings, he pushed himself upright once more.

"I'm not that easy to defeat!" Superbia cried.

"I'd hope you wouldn't be," Tommy replied. "It makes the fight that much more fun." He clenched his hands into fists and raced back towards Superbia once more. As he got closer to the peacock, it flapped its wings once more and started to push Tommy backwards. But the Red Zeo ranger punched his fist against the ground and lowered himself into a crouch, trying to keep himself from being blown backwards. Superbia then raced forward and crashed himself directly into Tommy's chest, sending him flying backwards and landing hard on the ground.

Around him, his friends succeeded in fending off the cogs with relative ease. Then they turned their attention over towards Superbia and leapt into an attack. Avalon leapt high into the air and flipped over the purple peacock. Once she landed, she lifted her back foot and kicked the monster in the chest before unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks along the face and chest of the monster. It whirled around and pecked at the center of her suit, causing it to short circuit, sending shockwaves through her body and fall to the ground. Superbia then turned towards Rocky and Adam and let out a low laugh. It pulled its wings up into himself, and a strange gleam appeared at the tips of his wings.

"Look out!" Kat cried, immediately noticing what it was.

But the blue and green Zeo rangers couldn't move fast enough and when Superbia opened his wings once more he shot a flurry of metal feathers out towards the rangers, catching them across the chest and knocked them to the ground. Kat clenched her hands into fists and looked over her fallen friends, before her eyes shifted back to the peacock.

"There has to be something we can do!" Tanya cried as she backed away from Superbia with Kat by her side. "There's always a weakness on these guys, but he's moving too quickly." Before she could get out of the way, Superbia shot another gust of wind towards them. Kat rolled out of the way as Tanya was flung back onto the ground, the back of her head hitting the solid ground with a resounding 'thwack'.

"Tanya! Oh no!" Kat cried. She turned back to Superbia, eyes widening as the peacock lowered his head, pushing his tail feathers up into the air. The circles that rested on the feathers brightened and a loud, screeching sound filled the air, causing Kat to let out a cry of pain and bring her hands up to cover her ears. Then the feathers continued to increase in brightness until blasts of energy came out from the rings and crashed into Kat, knocking her to the ground.

"No!" Tommy got to his feet and raced over to the pink ranger, pulling her to her feet. "Are you okay?" Behind his visor his eyes searched the spandex outfit of the pink ranger. "Kim—"

"I'm okay, Tommy," Kat replied, bringing a hand up to her helmet and shaking her head. She then turned to Tommy and grabbed onto his hand, pulling herself up. Tommy swallowed thickly when he heard the accented voice respond to his concern rather than that of his girlfriend. Right. It wasn't her under there. But with her back and the pink ranger fighting next to him…he shook his head now. Right. Time to pay attention. "But what are we going to do about this thing?"

"I don't know, but we'll have to think of something fast," Tommy said. He looked over at his friends as they composed themselves and stood next to their friends. "This guy is tougher than I thought. I can't get a handle on him."

"Precisely!" Superbia replied. He flashed purple once more. "I'm only as strong as the negative feelings you project. I'm too strong for you."

"Guys, he's right," Billy's voice came through their helmets. "Our readings indicate he's really strong. You've' only just got your Zeo powers and while it continues to increase in power because of the Zeo Crystals, you're not a match for him."

"So what can we do?" Rocky asked, a sigh of exasperation escaping his lips. "We've defeated guys twice as strong as him before but we can't even take this down."

Now Billy made a sound of irritation. "I can't explain it," he said quickly. "There's something about him that seems to increase his power levels by the second. But it's not constant. Right now, it's too dangerous to try and defeat him, but there is something you can do."

Adam's eyebrows furrowed together and he looked around, wondering what it was. This monster certainly had its bases covered; the blast from its wings, the razor sharp feathers, the blasts from the feathers on its tail. What could they do short of blasting it with a shot of electricity that they didn't have?

"We're sending down your Zeo Power weapons," Bailey took up the mantle. "Fred, Alpha and I have been working on them for a while now, though they're not _entirely_ ready for battle, so don't be surprised if there is some sort of buggy side effects, yeah?"

"What kind of side effects?" Rocky asked suspiciously.

There was a brief moment of silence before their new weapons appeared in their hands, immediately shifting the rangers' attention. They looked over their new weapons with differing degrees of awe and wonder. "These are your Zeo Power Weapons; they hold the same sort of power as the Zeo Crystal, taking on more power the longer time goes on. I hope you can put them to good use."

"It looks like we don't have much of a choice," Kat pointed out. She ran her gloved hand over the face of her new shield and tightened her grip around the handle. "These weapons look awesome," she added quickly and held it up. "Zeo Power Disc!"

"Zeo Power Double Clubs!" Tanya cried.

"Zeo Power Axes!" Rocky cried.

"Zeo Power Hatchets!" Adam cried.

"Zeo Power Scythe!" Avalon cried.

"Zeo Power Sword!" Tommy concluded.

"Power Rangers Zeo!" They all cried in unison before racing off to face Superbia once more. The six rangers surrounded the purple peacock monster and took turns using their new weapons to gain the upper hand. The blast of energy Superbia sent Kat's way was sucked up by the dome of the power desk before it was sent back towards Superbia. Tanya came in next and used her double clubs to crack Superbia upside the head and directly in the chest. Rocky and Adam then teamed up and used their axes and hatchets to block the wings that came their way then slashed him across the front. Avalon and Tommy came up last, taking place in Superbia's front and back and used their scythe and power sword to slash Superbia once more, knocking him to the ground.

But Superbia quickly brought himself back to his feet with a strong downward pulse of his wings. His eyes glowed and he brought his arms up to his front in an 'x' and started to completely glow purple. He brushed his wings open with so much force that it sent a wave of energy out towards the rangers, knocking them over once more.

 _Man, this is really getting old,_ Tommy thought as he got to his feet. He looked up just in time to find Superbia had set its eyes on him once more. _This guy really wants to take me down,_ he realized. Superbia continued to glow a nasty, ugly, shade of purple and the circles on its tail feathers created one strong beam of energy directed towards the Red Zeo Ranger.

Bringing his arms up in an 'x', Tommy shielded himself from the blast. He could hear the sounds of his friends' frantic screams—those on the battlefield and those back at the Power Chamber—and he held his breath. It had to be bad. But then he heard nothing but frantic footsteps coming his way before his arms were grabbed and he was hauled to his feet.

"Tommy!" Rocky cried as he grabbed onto his friend with a steady hand. "Tommy, are you okay?"

"Yeah…I think so," Tommy said slowly. He didn't feel any pain other than the areas that had fallen victim to his crashes against the ground. Thankfully their new suits managed to protect them just as well if not better than their ninjetti suits or their mighty morphin' ones. Still, even with a new sense of power he knew he was going to be bruised if not feeling the pain for days. "I don't…"

"Are you sure, bro?" Avalon asked, on his other side. She tightened her grip on his arm. "You got a direct blast from that thing." She looked over her shoulder where Superbia had been before. "We should get you back to the Power Chamber, run a full scan."

"Good idea," Kat agreed. She stood off to the side, her hands clasped together. "We have no idea what sort of thing that blast could have done to you."

"Guys." Tommy held up his hands and gently pushed his friends away. "I'm fine. I promise. I held him off on my own while you took care of the cogs and he got away. That's it." Then he softened his voice, knowing that his friends were exchanging glances under their helmets despite not being able to see through their visors. "I promise. I'm okay."

"Okay," Adam agreed. "If you're sure."

"I am."

"Okay, let's go back."

The rangers teleported back to the Power Chamber.

* * *

"And you're sure there's nothing else that I can do?" Billy asked as he looked at the sheet of paper that sat on the desk in front of him. He lifted his gaze towards Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Applebee as they stood behind Mr. Kaplan's desk. Well, Mr. Kaplan had his hand extended towards Billy while Ms. Applebee stood to the side with an expression that was a mixture of happiness and sadness.

He knew he had to come to terms with what he was being told at some point, but it was just coming too soon. Especially as he hadn't put too much thought into it. Not only was there the Zeo Rangers and everything, but then there was his Dad and everything with that… _Oh come on, Billy, you know you were doing nothing but trying to keep your mind off of everything._ He shook his head and turned his attention back to the subject at hand. A million thoughts raced through his head. What about his friends? What was he going to do now? Was he expected to move out? Would he move into the Power Chamber? Was that even a great place to go?

With a low sigh, Mr. Kaplan slowly lowered himself into his leather chair. He was silent for a moment before pressing his fingertips together and leveling his gaze at the former ranger. "We've already talked about this, Billy. You've taken nearly every class this school has to offer, you have the highest GPA on record, and you've run out of credits needed for graduation. Even with your…strange set of class absences…" He then exchanged a glance with Ms. Applebee, giving Billy the chance to pull at the collar of his shirt to relieve some tension that seemed to have suddenly appeared.

He still didn't have a good excuse for that, no matter who asked him. How was he going to explain leaving classes in the strangest fashions and returning with bruises and abrasions he couldn't explain? It was easier when Bulk and Skull were still around; he could blame it on the bullying they subjected him to. But now…well, it was probably the only good thing that he wasn't a ranger anymore. He wasn't in the direct line of fire and was able to stretch the different recesses of his brain when he was working on the zords and weapons for the rangers.

"You've managed to keep up with the school work as well as go above and beyond the qualifications for each and every assignment given to you; you're well beyond ready for graduation."

 _Graduation._ Finally, he said it. When they had their meetings before Mr. Kaplan went as far as he could not to mention the word, in case something was to happen. What, the former ranger wasn't sure. But he could admit the first time he heard he had enough credits to graduate, he had reacted with surprise then immediately postponed the meeting until he could tell his father. Then the second time they met up to speak he had fully intended on telling his friends, then chickened out as worries consumed him.

"Don't worry, you can still participate with the math and science clubs as well as play on the football team," Ms. Applebee reassured him. "We're not going to kick you out of your clubs and teams. That's the last thing we would want, for you to suddenly be thrust out into the world without your friends by your side."

"It's funny, that's exactly what it feels like you're doing," Billy said. He held up his hand as Mr. Kaplan's eyebrows rose and he slowly sat up. "I mean that with the utmost respect," he added quickly. "It's just…I still haven't really thought about what I would do, despite the numerous times we've met so far."

"We understand the surprise," Ms. Applebee said. She clasped her hands together. "But we feel this is the best for you to succeed. We're very proud of the accomplishments you've made and will continue to make as you move on to bigger and better things."

He could read between the lines. There was nothing left that he could do for the school. No other class to take, no special projects to use as independent study. Nothing waiting for him other than the sheet of paper—his diploma—that sat on the desk in front of him complete with Mr. Kaplan's signature. It was official, he had graduated. He was allowed to walk with the rest of his class if he'd like, but by that point…

With a low sigh, Billy reached out and took the piece of paper, his brain still struggling to come up with the appropriate response for the situation. But all he managed to do was reach out his hand and shake Mr. Kaplan's hand, then turned towards Ms. Applebee and accepted the hug she extended his way. Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the office. His footsteps echoed along the empty hallway. It was just as well they called him in on a Saturday to finalize his graduation reports, maybe so that there wasn't a lot of attention on him when he suddenly left class and school. Whatever the reason, Billy had never felt more alone in his life.

 _This was everything you've ever wanted,_ Billy thought, looking down over the official looking document in his hands once more. It was official: _Angel Grove High School. This certifies that William Cranston has satisfactorily completed the course of study prescribed by Angel Grove High School, therefore demonstrating satisfactory evidence of educational competence, is hereby awarded this High School Diploma and is entitled to all rights and privileges appertaining thereto._ After reading the words to himself he carefully rolled it up, much like a diploma would be, and held it tightly in the palm of his hand.

Stepping out into the sunlight, he blinked for a few moments, trying to adjust his eyes to the light then lowered his gaze to find Trini sitting on the steps of the school. As he moved towards her, she turned and flashed him a warm smile, silently inviting him to sit down next to him. He lowered himself down onto the concrete.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey?" His response sounded more like a question. But he was confused. How had she known that he was there? He hadn't told anyone where he was going that day, not even his father. He had gotten up, had his normal breakfast of coffee—no matter how much Avalon's voice in the back of his head nagged him that it wasn't nutritious at all—and headed out all without anyone waking up. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," Trini said. She stretched out her legs, resting her hands into her lap. "It's funny, without being around here anymore, I can always tell when there's something bothering you."

Billy silently nodded in reply, but didn't otherwise respond. Not right away. He was focused too much on getting the chance to take a look over Trini. Her hair was as long as ever, reaching her lower back, maybe a little bit longer and dusting her skin that peeked out from below her white crop top. Her eyes were as bright and lively as they had been, but filled with the same sense of a calm energy that had always been her personality. But then he focused on her attire, a white crop top, jean capris, and a pair of white sandals. There wasn't any piece of yellow on her, not even the flower earrings that dangled from her ears.

He thought she looked as beautiful as ever, but it was as if he was looking at a different person as well. Turning away, Billy let out a low breath and turned his gaze back to the paper in his hand. 'It's nothing that's wrong," he finally said. "I'm just confused. Normally this would be something I'd be excited for…" he trailed off and handed her his diploma.

Eyebrows rising, Trini took the paper and unrolled it. He watched her expression as she read the words on the paper and her eyes widened before she grinned with as much intensity as he remembered. "Billy, this is awesome!" She continued to look it up and down then handed it back to him. "But why do I get the feeling that you're not excited for this?"

Though his face was stoic and he never was the kind of person that got over-the-top happy about things—not even when he made a scientific breakthrough, his happiness was always on a bit of a reserved level. No, he wasn't like the others in that way, but this was much more important. Something everyone worked hard for and even threw parties for afterwards. "I'm excited," he said honestly. "I really am, but…I don't really know what it means."

"It means you graduated, Billy." Trini gently nudged him with her shoulder. "You should be proud."

"I thought I would be," Billy said. "But I also thought I'd have the chance to walk across the stage, give the valedictorian speech, be able to stand up and there and look down at all of my friends and family that had managed to get me so far. By then I would have a plan of what I wanted to do; what college I would be headed off to, how I'd be able to keep in touch with my parents while I was gone…" He trailed off then lowered his head.

 _Why'd you have to bring it up?_ He thought. _You know avoiding conversation topics like this are the only thing that'll help you move on. You deal with experiments, not emotions._ He shook his head as Trini continued to sit next to him quietly.

"It's not good to keep things inside, Billy," she reminded him, proving once again that she had the innate ability to read his mind. "It just hurts you more in the long run. Especially if you end up putting all of whatever feelings out on someone else."

"I just don't understand why it all has to happen now," Billy finally said. "Why couldn't they just pretend it didn't happen? Am I just going to use the rest of my time to work in the Power Chamber? Am I going to go to school?"

"Take some time off, figure out what you want to do next, no one is rushing you to do anything," Trini said. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Actually, you have a bit of an advantage over everyone else; you have time to figure out where to go or what to do. Everyone else is thrust into it before we even finish our senior year. And this is something that should be celebrated, if anything, tell the others. They'll be just as excited."

"I guess…" he had never felt so unsure. On one hand he was cognitive enough to know for sure they would be glad for him and his news. But then there would come that inevitable question 'what are you going to do next?' and for the first time in his life he didn't have an answer for it.

"I _know_."

Billy looked over at his friend, his ex-girlfriend, and smiled. No matter what, she always knew how to make him feel better.

It was just too bad the feeling was fleeting.

"I can't believe nothing's changed around here," Kimberly remarked as she glanced around the Youth Center with the rest of the rangers, minus Billy and Trini, around her. "I don't know why, I thought there was something that would at least _look_ different." She rubbed her arms. "I feel it."

"It might just be you, Pinkerbell," Avalon pointed out, stirring her straw through her smoothie. "I feel the same way whenever I go back to Aus. Despite having a home and a life there, despite nothing changing, going back I feel nothing is the same." She took a long sip and shrugged. "It took me a bit to realize it was because I changed."

"How _are_ things going with you, Kim?" Kat reached out and gently took hold of the former pink ranger's hand. "How is everything going in Florida?" She watched as Kimberly glanced over at Tommy and nervously tucked hr hair behind her ear. She suddenly appeared subdued as she lowered herself in her seat, putting her gaze on her own smoothie.

"Its fine, I guess," Kimberly said to her smoothie. "It's different. The weather is the same as it is here, but I don't wake up and see that I'm in my room. I see myself in a hospital room. Or in the guest room of the apartment my Mom got. There's nothing that's familiar out there other than Palm trees." She laughed lightly. "I've never been more excited to see a Palm tree."

"What about your treatment?" Rocky asked, before being elbowed on both sides by Aisha and Tanya. "Ow! I was just asking?"

"It's rude," Aisha hissed to him, her eyes narrowed in a glare. She then turned her attention back to Kimberly and rolled her eyes, showing that she didn't agree with the crassness of Rocky's question. Kimberly giggled lightly and appeared relieved to have been asked the question.

 _I reckon I would like for someone to ask me outright, too,_ Kat thought. _I wouldn't want everyone to constantly tiptoe around the subject as if it would upset me._ She brought her cup between her hands and started to pass it back and forth between her palms. It was a nervous habit, though she really had nothing to be nervous about. Kat found her eyes trailing over towards Tommy, who continued to keep his gaze on his girlfriend with that loving expression he always had when she was around.

Kat couldn't lie to herself anymore. She had heard Tommy call her 'Kim' when they were in battle. The way he had rushed over to her hadn't been because she had been hurt; it was because he thought it was Kim that had gotten hurt. That managed to disappoint her more than she had originally thought it would, it sent more of her insecurities into overdrive. Did that mean she wasn't a good ranger? Still? After the time she had spent with the rangers, fighting for the forces of evil? Or did it mean she still wasn't a good replacement for Kim?

The question caused her to wrinkle her nose. She hated the thought of that word. _Replacement._ Rocky was a replacement to Billy and Jason, Adam to Zack, and Tanya to Aisha and Trini, and yet it seemed like no one else but her had issues of inadequacy. She saw the way the others looked at her in battle the first few times, they had expected for Kim to be under the suit. She had seen the way their eyes would dim when her helmet would come off.

And now she had to suffer seeing Tommy so disappointed all over again.

Kat lifted her eyes to Tommy once more, seeing that he was still enamored with Kim as she told her story of being in treatment for her eating disorder. Not that it was anything to be jealous about, Kat quickly reminded herself. It was a silly thought, why would she be jealous? She looked over at Kim as Tommy put his arm around her shoulders, her eyebrows furrowing together as Kimberly then reached out and pulled on her jacket, effectively making Tommy drop his arm once more.

"It's not that bad," Kimberly said to wrap up her story. "The most important thing is that I'm getting better, right?"

"Right," Bailey agreed. "It's good to have you back, Kim. You and Trini."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "It's always good to have a ranger reunion whenever we get the chance."

"Do you know how long you're going to stay?" Jason asked, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "There's so much we need to catch you up on. So much to show both of you. Plus, like Fred said, it's good to have the gang back together again."

"Have you heard anything from Zack?" Kimberly asked, eyes lighting up.

Jason shook his head. "Not for a bit, his parents say he's really busy with his school work and the football teams and everything. I'm sure he'll get in contact once he knows you're here." He waved a hand as if to fend off her fears.

"So, what do you want to do first while you're back here?" Aisha asked, grinning.

A light giggle escaped Kimberly's lips. "Well, I was going to say visit Alpha and Zordon but we already got that out of the way." As laughter rippled around the table, Kat pushed her chair back, explaining she was going to the bathroom. She waved to Ernie's greeting towards her, and then went to the locker room glad it was empty.

She went over to the sinks and splashed some water on her face before looking at her reflection. She didn't look happy or sad, but she could see in her eyes there was something wrong. Did anyone else see it? Staring harder at her reflection, Kat's eyebrows twitched when she noticed something appeared off. Her eyes were different. Pink?

No.

That wasn't possible.

And as Kat watched, her reflection started to change, morphing her features this way and that until the face of a goat monster appeared in front of her instead. Luxuria grinned at Kat, her eyes glowing pink once more, this time with the intensity that filled the bathroom. Kat closed her eyes and turned away, rubbing them. When she opened them once more the light was gone.

Kat whirled back towards the mirror and gasped when she saw herself. Bringing a hand up to her face she touched her skin, seeing her reflection do the same. Dropping her hand, Kat let out a sigh before lightly laughing at herself.

All of the monster fights must have been getting to her.


	56. Ready

**Chapter 56**

_Ready (1)  
_

* * *

Avalon pulled her long hair up into a ponytail and checked her reflection in the mirror. She frowned, bringing her hand up to her cheek, leaning into her reflection, her eyes settling on the scar on her cheek. It wasn't brighter, it didn't hurt, and there was no indicator it was there in the first whenever people first looked at her. And yet it was the first thing she saw whenever she looked into the mirror. No matter how much makeup she put on, whether she was wearing a mask of some sort, had her hair down around her face, it was the first thing she noticed.

Now it was for an entirely different reason. Before it would remind her of the time she spent in the Vipers; what she was to do next to make sure she and Bailey were safe and had everything they needed, how she kept that part of her life secret from the rangers no matter the outcome, how deeply rooted she was into the gang despite her efforts to get out. Now it was the first thing she saw for an entirely different reason; it reminded her that her life was now turned one hundred eighty degrees from the one she had before. She had friends she was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to protect, a family—albeit a strange definition of one—,a roof over her head—many of them—and finally had the luxury of not having to look over her shoulder quite as often.

Now she was able to look at her scars and Vipers tattoo with an air of pride rather than guilt, fear, and frustration. Hearing her cell phone ring, Avalon looked over at her sister through the mirror, who was at her own dresser mirror and reached over to pick it up. Bailey's eyebrows crinkled when she saw the number. "Unknown," she called.

"Chuck it here," Avalon said. She turned from the mirror and held out her hand as Bailey threw it to her. Her tiger zord leapt up from the floor and batted it out of the air, knocking it onto her bed. The tiger zord then jumped atop it and started to scratch at the screen with its front paws. "Hey, stop that!" Avalon reached over and gently nudged her tiger zord aside, where it immediately became entangled with Bailey's lion zord. "If it weren't for the fact that these things are entirely made of metal, they'd be just as bad as real cats."

"I hear you," Bailey agreed. "It's no wonder Mum and Dad never let us has any pets." She rolled her eyes. "Everything had to be 'ship shape' like _we_ were the ones in the military, yeah?" She pushed herself away from her desk and looked at her watch. "You might want to answer that, we're leaving soon."

"No worries, I'm right behind you." Avalon put the phone to her ear and answered quickly. "Hello?"

"Collect call from the Angel Grove county jail, would you accept the charges?"

"Yes, I'll accept the charges." Avalon tightened her grip on her phone and waited for the other end to be connected. "What is it, Chase? I thought you were going to leave me alone after the last time I was there."

"Relax, Pinky, I just wanted to congratulate you," Chase said calmly. Avalon listened hard to his voice, was there a tone of insincerity? Maybe she was hearing things, there was no way the guy she knew to be nothing short of vicious and vindictive to get what he wanted was congratulating her. "For getting Summer and Skye in here. I don't know how you managed to do it, but they're going to be put on trial like the rest of us are."

"Yeah, well, I don't think it's going to be something I'll be able to truly believe until the trial and everything is done. You said I'm going to be called in to be questioned, yeah? I'm sure all of my friends will be too." She brought a hand up to her forehead. "I just want this done, Chase. I have too much on my plate to deal with already."

"I'm giving you my word that nothing else is going to happen," Chase insisted. "Seriously. You deserve more than to consistently be brought into this. I had a word with the High Flyers and they should leave you alone as well. If I'm not mistaken they're leaving Angel Grove as it is. Too many monster attacks, too many people are leaving as it is. There's nothing here for them to get any value out of."

"And you couldn't have told me that before I broke into Kim's house?"

There was a long moment of silence and Avalon wondered if there was anything else that Chase hadn't told her. From her recollection he had a habit of keeping things to himself unless others really needed to know about it. "Look, all I want to say is that I think you were smart to get out when you did. Me…I didn't really have a choice; it was the life I grew up in, the only life I knew. Just make sure you don't end up in here, I don't think I'd be able to protect you then."

"Thanks for the heads up," Avalon said honestly. "I have to go."

"I'm running out of time on my call anyway."

Avalon wasn't sure how to respond but her prayers were answered when Chase just hung up the phone with a resounding click. Shoving her phone into her pocket, Avalon turned and picked up the lion and tiger zords and placed them into the open drawer of her dresser. "Now you lot behave, I don't want to come back with oil stains everywhere." She then grabbed her wallet and house keys and left the room, practically flying down the stairs.

"Whoa," David cried as he lifted his cup of steaming coffee out of her way. "We're not going to be late, Avalon, no need to rush. I'd hardly think this was your first football game, either."

"Sorry, David," she apologized to him with a cheerful lift to her voice as she ducked under his arm. "I didn't see you there."

"Shouldn't he be saying that?" Bailey teased. "Considering everyone in the world need a microscope to be able to see you." Avalon stuck her tongue out at her little sister, who stuck hers out in reply. "Mum'll be here in a few minutes then we can go."

"Ace." With a spring in her step, Avalon reached over the kitchen counter and took the piece of toast that Bailey had just been about to eat. The Orange Zeo ranger then went into the living room and plopped down onto the couch, jostling Billy. "First football game of senior year, Smurf, how do you feel?"

Avalon rested her chin in her upraised palm as she watched her boyfriend pull his jersey down over his undershirt. He cast her a smirk over his shoulder as he smoothed it out with his hands before bringing his sports bag onto his lap and looked through it to be sure he had everything inside. "Feels just like any other game," he said honestly.

He didn't have to mention it was because he had graduated, Avalon knew that just by the light cloud of tension that seemed to follow him since he had gotten the news the week before. The rangers had been excited once he finally told them the news and even went as far as to throw him a very quick and impromptu graduation party. It had been a great party all of their friends were there; even Lt. Stone, Bulk, and Skull made a brief appearance to congratulate him for the news. It even appeared that Bulk and Skull had buried the hatchet with Billy as they graciously congratulated him.

"Is that really how you feel or are you trying not to think about what you want to do with the rest of your life?" Avalon continued to press. She made a show of examining her fingernails. "Because the way I see it, you don't have anything to worry about. With that big brain of yours you can do anything you want, yeah?"

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Billy said. He let out a low sigh, proving to the Orange Zeo Ranger he was probably going to be struggling with it for a while. "Are there any good luck words you're like to give me about the game?"

"No." She paused for a moment. "Wait, try not to let your quarterback get sucked."

He burst out laughing. " _Sacked_ , Ava. You don't want the quarterback to get sacked."

"Whatever. I'm from Australia; the only thing I care about is surfing." Billy laughed and Avalon reached out, putting her arm around his shoulders and leaned in, giving him a kiss. Billy pushed his bag from his lap to the floor and placed his hand on her cheek, kissing her back. Avalon smiled against his lips and tilted her head, kissing him again, this time bringing up her free hand and resting it on his shoulder.

Billy brought his hands up into her hair and gently ran his fingers through it before pulling away, toying with the ends. "You seem to be in a good mood," he remarked.

"Is that a problem?" Eyes flashing, she leaned back into the couch. "I could go back to being the abrasive, snarky; secretive…" she waved a hand. "If that's more interesting to you."

He feigned thinking about it. "I don't know, I thought it was really attractive." He laughed, leaning out of the way as Avalon reached behind her and grabbed onto the throw pillow she had been leaning against and whacked him over the head with it. He pushed the pillow away, blushing at his honesty.

"You have good taste then." Avalon beamed and placed her hand under his chin to hold him still, giving him a smack on the cheek.

"Good morning," Ellie chirped as she breezed into the living room. If she were embarrassed as to walking in on a private moment between her daughter and boyfriend she didn't show it. "How are you lot doing today?"

"Hey Mum." Avalon immediately got off the couch and went over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "How you going?" She smiled as her mother brushed her hair off her forehead and looked hard at her.

"Are you eating? You look too thin."

"That's because you're not around to constantly fuss, Mum. I now get the option to stop eating when I'm not hungry anymore." She placed her hands on her hips, eyes searching her mother's. After the phone call with Chase she found a newfound respect for the sorts of sacrifices her mother had made for her and Bailey. Despite not having custody of her anymore, despite Avalon now being adopted, at least her mother was still around to keep her out of trouble.

For the most part.

Better late than never.

"I heard this is a big game today, Billy," Ellie said, turning her attention to the former ranger, who pulled his bag over his shoulder, slinging it across his body. "Going against Stone Canyon, yeah?"

"I think it's going to be harder for Rocky, Adam, and Aisha," Billy said honestly. "They're going against their old school, their old friends." He shrugged. "It's just another team for me. A way for me to show off the higher reach of my limits that I have managed to create over the past couple of years."

"In other words that's his techno babble for 'I'm excited for the game and I can't wait to show off my football skills'," Avalon translated with a proud smile. She tilted her head to the side, eyes shifting over towards Bailey as she walked into the living room with David behind her. "Thank God, Goober managed to grow out of that. I can handle one person that's inherently smarter than me, but not two."

"Everyone's smarter than you, Booger," Bailey shot back, causing the sisters to smirk at each other. If there was one thing they weren't short of, it was teasing remarks towards each other. Avalon had taken it to heart when she was younger, a little insecure with how smart her little sister was much smarter than she was, winning awards left and right. The struggles they had gone through made it easier to appreciate her talent, especially in the Power Chamber.

Bailey's eyebrows rose as she asked, "Who was that on the phone?"

 _Figures she wouldn't forget to ask,_ Avalon thought, curling her fingers into her palm, squeezing hard. Though one thing she wasn't particularly fond of was how her sister's intelligence added to her natural curiosity.

For a moment Avalon wanted to tell them the truth, that Chase had congratulated her. But there was no point to it. It wasn't anything that was inherently important and the last thing she wanted to do was have Billy mad at her again. Though they made up quickly, it had surprised her how upset he had become about it, she didn't want it to happen again. "Oh, it was Dana," she said, making a mental note to call her half-sister soon. "She just wanted to know how things were going here in Angel Grove."

"Speaking of which," Ellie said with a low sigh. "Your father called and asked if you two wanted to go visit him over Winter Break."

"Why didn't he just ask us himself?" Bailey asked, eyebrows furrowing together.

A flare of anger rushed through Avalon's body and she gently turned her head aside. "Because Dad can't take responsibility for anything he's ever done or wants to do. He has to have some sort of buffer between him and everyone that's _not_ part of his military brigade." She turned back to her mother. "Tell him I don't want to go."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" David piped up, causing the Orange Zeo Ranger to turn her attention to him, her face softening. "I understand that there are complications in your relationship with your father but you might not want to miss on the opportunity to strengthen it."

"I'm sure," she said stubbornly. _I don't want to go anywhere I have to spend more than a few minutes with him,_ Avalon thought. _Not when he's already done so much to ruin our lives. I'm glad he gave up custody._

"Well," Ellie clasped her hands together. "We should probably get going so we don't miss opening kickoff. Though I don't think we should be that worried, God knows there's going to be some monster attack that interrupts the whole thing."

"Mom! Don't jinx it!" Bailey cried, eyes widening with horror.

"Well, statistically is does have a point," Billy pointed out. "More often than not there are bound to be monster attacks throughout many portions of the day, but are highly more significant to occur when there's a large crowd around so that our secret would be revealed. Or in the case of those that we know and love being in danger." He crossed his arms, this time shrugging as something flickered through his eyes. "But you all can handle it."

Ellie smiled. "I hope so. I wouldn't want my first football game ruined by a monster. If there's anyone I know that can handle it, it's the power rangers." Avalon smiled back. "Let's go, Angel Grove!" She cheered loudly, complete with a 'woo hoo', causing her daughters to slap their hands over their faces.

"How embarrassing." Bailey's voice was muffled by the palm of her hand.

"It's official; I'm _not_ sitting with you at the game!" Avalon declared.

* * *

Rocky picked up his helmet from the kitchen table and looked it over, spinning it in his hands. It shined with a fresh polish that he knew came from his mother's handiwork. He smiled and looked at the number on the side, running his thumb over it. It was a big game, the first of the year…and yet he was going to be playing against the team that he had grown up with as long as he could remember. Now he was expected to go against his old friends, his old classmates, his old everything…

Still it was exciting to be part of the first line on the team with his best friends. With Tommy as the quarterback and himself, Jason, Adam, and Billy being on the defensive line to help block they were unstoppable. Their practices had been going well; still the entire school was going to be there that day, his family included, and the nerves weren't going to go away any time soon.

"Rocky, Rocky." He turned to the side and found Maria tugging at the bottom of his football jersey. "We're going to the game with you," she said.

With a light laugh, Rocky leaned down and grabbed onto his baby sister, lifting her up into his arms. "I know, I heard. And you're going to have fun watching your big brother play, right?"

"I'm going to have cotton candy," she said. Rocky laughed again and leaned in, giving her a big kiss on the cheek. She giggled and threw her arms around Rocky's neck in a tight hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. Then, seeing Antonio run into the room, looking around the couch cushions, she kicked her legs back and forth, wiggling to be put down. Rocky relinquished his grip on her and she tore off after her brother. "I wish I could remember a time I was that excited."

"I can," Isabella remarked. She reached out a hand and placed it on her brother's shoulder. "When Ben and Jerry's announced their latest flavor." Rocky gave a short humorless laugh and reached out, grabbing onto his sister's shoulder. "What are you wearing?"

"Clothes." Rocky gave her a stern glance and she let out a huffing sound, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to hide the skin she was showing between her crop top and jean shorts. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Come on, Rocky, it's not that bad! Your friends wear things like this all the time!"

"My _friends_ aren't only twelve years old," Rocky pointed out.

She huffed, stamping her foot on the ground. "This isn't fair!"

"No one said life was fair, Isa, go change." Isabella huffed again and stormed out of the kitchen, nearly knocking into Diego as she went. Rocky was about to call out to his youngest brother, asking him what he wanted for breakfast, then stopped when he noticed Daniel was walking him into the room by the hand. The Blue Zeo Ranger immediately turned away, turning his attention back to his football helmet as if it were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

 _Where's my bag,_ he thought as he turned and walked into the living room. Anything so that he could get away from his father and the tension that constantly surrounded them. He looked behind the couch and found a handheld video game that Antonio was, undoubtedly, looking for. With a sigh, he grabbed onto it and held it out towards his brother, who grinned sheepishly and took it from him.

"So you're not going to watch your brother play at all?" Rocky asked.

"Not when I can hang out with my friends."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Tony."

"You're welcome."

Rocky made a show of sighing heavily and reached out, roughing up his brother's hair, gently pushing him away as he did so. He turned around, placing a hand on the back of his neck, eyes scanning the floor of his sports bag. He was sure he had left it by the front door last night with all of his things packed.

"Are you looking for this?" Daniel walked over, carrying Diego in one arm and his bag in the other. "Your mother and I made sure that all of your equipment was clean and up to date." Rocky reached out and took the bag, looking through it, his lower jaw dropping open when he saw that his old, fraying equipment had been replaced with all new gear. "Wow."

"It was the least we could do," Daniel said. At Rocky's snort, which he couldn't hold in before it escaped, Daniel sighed heavily and lowered Diego to the ground. "Go find your Mami, okay? Tell her that we're going to be late if we don't get going soon."

"Okay, Daddy." Diego turned on his heel and raced from the room as quickly as his legs would carry him.

Then the two DeSantos men stared at each other, standing in mimicking stances with hands lightly resting on their hips, weight cocked onto their right leg, heads lightly tilted to the side. Daniel was the one that spoke first. "Rocky, I don't know how much longer I'm going to allow this attitude that you have for me."

"It's not an attitude, Dad," Rocky said as calmly as possible. "Its how I feel; you shouldn't be here. You've never given us a reason to think you were still around for these past years and all of a sudden you show up again as if we're going to welcome you with open arms. Everyone else seems to have fallen for it, but I haven't. I can't get over the fact that you ruined the life we had because of your selfishness."

"It was selfish to try and help my family the only way I could think of?" Daniel shot back. "I know what I did was bad! I know that! And I've suffered the consequences from it. If I could go back and do things over, I wouldn't have done the same thing."

"You mean you wouldn't have stashed all of the drugs you were dealing under my bed?" The question slipped out before he could stop it. But he was tired of the same conversation. If things were going to change, he had to make them change. "You left Mami devastated because of what you've done. Not just because of the drug dealing but because of leaving her to take care of all of us. She had to take two jobs just so we had enough food; I had to help Mom take care of my brothers and sisters. I taught Antonio how to shave, how to put on deodorant, how much cologne to put on, and I'm probably going to be the one to tell him how to talk to girls when he's interested. You haven't been there for any of that." He lifted an arm and slapped it to his side. "Then there's Isabella; I was the one that had to make sure that she knew how to take care of herself around boys that were interested in her and what to wear and what not to wear. I shouldn't have to do that!

"I shouldn't be the one that is doing all of those things. I take care of Diego and Maria just so Mami can get a break sometimes. She deserves so much more than what you have given her."

"And I'm back to fix that problem," Daniel interrupted, raising his voice so it matched Rocky's. "If she and the others can accept that, I don't understand how you can't." He reached out and grabbed onto the sides of Rocky's face, holding him still so that he could speak directly to him. Rocky glared back at his father, cursing the way he resembled the man that had caused him so much grief. "I'm working hard, much harder than you know. I'm constantly getting checked by my parole officer, I can't get a job because I have to tell people that I've been arrested and charged for dealing drugs, people that used to be my friend cross the street whenever they see me. And then I come back home to my children, hoping they would see how sorry I am and you're not making any of this easy."

Reaching up his hands, Rocky shoved Daniel's grasp off of him. "Well, I'm sorry but I don't think I can ever forgive someone that knew what he was doing was wrong and continued to do it. Even after you started making money from it…I don't want to know how much. Money isn't more important than family." He pushed by his father and walked over to the kitchen, viciously grabbing his helmet from the table.

He turned around and found his mother leaning against the doorframe, watching him, obviously having heard the conversation between him and his father. "I love you, I really do," he said to her. "And I love my brothers and sisters. But I'm not going to be around him, not when I still think he can turn around and do the same thing again. So he can stay here as long as he wants, as long as you want him to, but he's not my father and he never will be."

With that, Rocky stalked towards the front door, tossing an 'I'll see you at the game' over his shoulder.

* * *

Adam stretched his arms over his head seconds before he brought his hands up to rest his palms against the dashboard in front of him as the car lurched. "Geez, Tanya, don't get us into an accident before we even get there," he cried. He tried to bring an air of teasing into his tone, but couldn't help but allow fear into it as well for every few seconds; Tanya would bring her foot down onto the brake pedal, causing his car to come to a quick stop.

He felt sorry for the people stuck in traffic behind them, no doubt going to the game, as much as he did for himself. Holding his breath, he allowed his body to roll forward with the next stop, smiling at Tanya's squeak of 'sorry', and wondered how she had managed to talk him into letting her drive. Actually he had been even more surprised when she showed up at his house that morning just as he and his parents were leaving for the game.

"Where's Aisha?" he asked her.

"Oh, she had some things that she needed to take care of before she could come," Tanya said, pointing over her shoulder. "She said you wouldn't mind if I asked for you to drive me to the school?" Clasping her hands together, the Yellow Zeo Ranger gave Adam a pleading smile. "I know I'm probably making things hard for you and because this is such short notice—"

"Oh, no. Don't worry about it." Adam smiled and pulled the door closed behind him. "I was just leaving." He held up his car keys and motioned to the black jeep that sat in the driveway. Tanya followed him, her eyebrows rising.

"But, isn't it kind of early for you to be going?"

"Yeah, I want to get there kind of early. I guess I'm sort of nervous. I want to get some time to get some field goal kicks in. To get some of the kinks out."

"Oh."

Adam exchanged a small smile with her as he walked to the back of the jeep and tossed his bag inside. It landed with a low thud amongst his other workout clothes, different outfits for impromptu workouts with his martial arts training. Tanya glanced at it before lifting her hand and bringing it along the body of the car, walking around it with an expression of complete awe on her face. Adam watched as she continued to scrutinize every inch of the car, wanting to ask her about her fascination with it. _That'd be a great question to ask,_ he thought, rolling his eyes. _Have you never seen a car before? It'd be a great way to run her off._

As if sensing his unasked question, Tanya came to a stop beside him, continuing to examine the car. "I've never seen one like this. It's beautiful."

"Not really. It's okay I guess." Adam shrugged, spinning his keys around his finger. "It's a hand-me-down from my Mom and Dad; it gets me from home to wherever I need to go." He rolled his eyes when Tanya raised her eyebrows at a scratch along the car. "That's what happened when Rocky was first learning how to drive. He scraped it along the side of a tree."

"A tree?!"

"Yeah…I have no idea how he didn't see it." Adam shook his head, laughing at the memory. "Aisha and I wouldn't' get off his case for weeks. Every time he asked to use one of our cars to get practice we wouldn't let him do it unless he signed a contract that said he would take full responsibility for anything that happened to the car."

"Wow. You three must be really close."

"Oh yeah, we're best friends. The school we're playing against today, Stone Canyon, we used to go there before we moved here to Angel Grove. Because I had the two of them around, moving wasn't so bad, we had someone with us that we could feel comfortable with." He dropped his gaze, cheeks flushing when he realized that Tanya didn't have anything or anyone in her life like that. Not when they were all back in Africa. "It must be hard to be out here, without your family," he prompted.

"It can be," Tanya agreed. "But…I have you guys." She smiled to brightly Adam swore that the sunlight reflected off of her white teeth. "You really make me feel like I belong here. Well, I mean, other than what you all have access to. No one back home can afford something like this. Even the wealthiest person doesn't have a car. Only government officials do."

"So you've never driven one before?"

"No, but I'd love to learn."

And before he knew it, his keys had found the way to hers and he gave her a crash course on the different pedals and how to change the gears before she eagerly climbed into the driver's seat and headed towards Angel Grove High School. _Okay, so you didn't really get talked into it,_ Adam reminded himself. He brought his hand up to his stomach as his body lurched forward again. _But I'm sure regretting it now._

Finally, Adam saw Angel Grove High School looming ahead and instructed Tanya to pull into the parking lot. He stepped out onto the ground, legs trembling ever so slightly and met Tanya at the back of the car. The expression on her face was of pure exhilaration to which Adam weakly matched. "That was so much fun! You're lucky you can do that all the time. I'm getting so used to things around here; it's so strange to see how all of the opportunities and things you have at your fingertips."

"It's alright, I guess," Adam said, suddenly feeling very insecure. It was something he was used to, but was obviously a culture shock to her. "I guess I'm just used to it." He licked his lips. "But I'd love to hear more about your home sometime. You know...if you want to talk."

"I'd love to!"

"Adam."

Twisting around, Adam looked over his shoulder and found Sabrina walking their way, waving her arm over her head. "Hey Sabrina," he greeted her. "Sabrina this is Tanya, Tanya this is my…" he trailed off, unsure how to introduce her. Thankfully, he got a reprieve as Sabrina and Tanya reacted to each other with bright smiles.

"Tanya, hey!" Sabrina greeted her.

"Sabrina, it's good to see you," Tanya replied.

Reaching up, Adam pulled at the collar of his jersey, suddenly warm. "Oh, you two know each other?"

"I haven't seen you since that monster attack," Sabrina continued. She then turned and explained to Adam what had happened in the city while he and the rest of the rangers had been stuck in the rubble underneath the Command Center, fending themselves off from Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile. "What happened? How'd you get away so far?"

For a moment Tanya blinked blankly at her, wondering what to say in response. "Oh, I, uh, saw an empty alleyway and just raced down it. I'm sorry; I didn't think it was a good idea if we were together. We would've been easier to catch, right?"

"Right. Good thinking. So are you excited about the game?" Sabrina turned and smiled warmly at Adam. "I can't wait to see you play."

"Yeah, I, uh—"

"Hey Tanya!" The group turned around and watched as Shawn, also dressed in a football jersey walked up to them. He barely glanced at Adam or Sabrina as he came to a stop in front of her. "I'm glad you're here. I was going to ask if you were coming to the game yesterday, but I couldn't find you."

"Oh, yeah, I was sort of busy. Still trying to get used to things around here." Tanya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nervously started to play with her fingers. "I'm really excited for the game. I've never seen live football before. Other than watching the little boys play."

"Well, I'll be looking for you in the stands, to be sure you're having a good time," Shawn said. He winked at her before walking off to join the rest of the football team. "I'll see you later, Tanya."

"Bye, Shawn," Tanya called back, waving to him.

Adam raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Sabrina, who hid her amused smile. Adam cleared his throat when Tanya turned back to her. "I see the other guys over there; I guess I should get going. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Adam."

"Have a good game!"

Adam waved to the girls and hurried across the parking lot to his friends. Tommy, Jason, and Billy were all smiling and laughing as they ambled towards the locker room. Rocky, on the other hand, had a stormy expression on his face as he followed behind them. Adam jogged over to his best friend's side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Rocky, is everything okay?"

"No," Rocky said honestly. "And I don't want to talk about it." Adam could tell just from the expression on his face what it had to do with and he certainly was serious about not wanting to talk about t at the moment.

"It's all right, man, use that anger on the field."

Rocky managed to smile and Adam grinned. The two reached out and slapped their helmets together.

It was game time.


	57. Chaos Downfield

**Chapter 57**

_Chaos Downfield (2)_ _  
_

* * *

"Whooo! Go Angel Grove!" Kimberly cheered, waving her hands over her head.

Trini, Aisha, Avalon, Kat, Bailey, Sabrina, and Fred chimed in on the cheers as their friends positioned themselves on the field after a good play. Tanya, on the other hand, looked around in confusion, but lightly cheered along with them. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on—and that had nothing to do with having just moved to Angel Grove, she had seen little boys in her village play football all the time—but wanted to cheer for her friends anyway. Football was certainly one of the sports she had never really been able to get into.

"It's been so long since I've been to a game," Trini remarked, resting her chin in her palm. "I've really missed this." She winced as Jason, who had caught a pass that Tommy threw him, tucked the football to his chest and managed to take two steps before he was knocked back to the ground. "In a peaceful way, I mean."

"Nothing about football is peaceful, Trini," Fred pointed out, eyes glued to the field. "That's the best part."

"Yeah, watching a bunch of guys knock each silly and getting a concussion is bloody fun," Bailey said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. Fred laughed lightly and elbowed her in the side, causing her to elbow him back.

"Do you think you'll join the team when you get to high school, Fred?" Kimberly asked, peering over at him. Angel Grove Middle School had always asked to start a football team of their own, but the student body wasn't big enough to create one. Not to mention there wasn't enough money in the budget to be able to give them the team.

"I'm more of a soccer player, myself," He said. "But football might be cool."

"The guys are playing great," Aisha agreed. She clapped and cheered loudly as they managed to work the ball downfield a few more yards. Then she waited for the cheering of the crowd to die down before continuing. "Rocky seems to be really into his head, though. He's not playing as well as usual." As if to prove her point, Rocky raced forward to catch a pass Tommy threw and managed to miss it, the ball bouncing off his outstretched fingers and rolled across the ground where Adam leapt on top of it and kept the ball in Angel Grove's possession.

"Yeah, you're right," Kat agreed.

"Is everything okay with him?" Sabrina added.

Aisha paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer the question. On one hand, the other did deserve to know about what was going on with him; they were a team, better than that, they were a _family_. Keeping secrets would continue to make things difficult for them, especially if it became too big to handle. What if the police came again and Rocky was taken away? Even worse, what if his _family_ was taken away, because they were all underage? Would it be her fault, too, because she hadn't said anything?

"Aisha, are you okay?" Trini placed her hand on her successor's shoulder. She gazed at the also former ranger with kind eyes that made Aisha immediately feel at peace. She wished Trini was around a lot more, so that she could ask her what it was like to be a ranger in the 'old days'. How she had managed to keep up with her peaceful and spiritual lifestyle along with what her family wanted and how often her ranger duties took her away. How she made the decision to leave the team and whether or not she continued to express doubt about her decision.

As per usual, Trini appeared to be able to sense something off about her. "Why don't we get something to eat?" She waved a hand at the field. "I'm sure that the boys can handle taking down a few of those guys to get a touchdown without us watching." She stood up, brushing off the back of her shots. "Does anyone want anything else while we're up?"

"Could you get me a soda?" Avalon asked her. "Or some popcorn, I don't really mind between the two."

"I'll take some popcorn as well," Kimberly added. Aisha looked her over. Her cheeks had regained the pink glow, she had certainly gained some weight form how tiny she had been before and yet…Aisha couldn't help but wonder how much better she truly had become. At least she wasn't as averted to eating as she was before.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Kat said politely.

Trini looked around her friends and took their orders before she led Aisha down the metal bleachers and onto the grass, going over to the concession stand. They walked along in silence for a few moments, the sounds of their footsteps crunching over the dry grass even drowned out by the cheers of the spectators rooting on Angel Grove or Stone Canyon. As they went, Aisha was stopped momentarily to catch up with a few of her former classmates before they continued on once more. They stopped a few feet away when Trini grasped Aisha's arm and turned her towards the fence.

Aisha sighed heavily, resting her arms on the top of the metal chain links. She watched as Rocky was given another passed and missed that one as well, by a few steps. The blue ranger brought his hands up to his helmet and slapped the sides as his teammates gave him gentle slaps on the back. Even from where she was standing she could see how frustrated he was. She felt for him; feeling his frustration in her gut. Rocky slowly walked back over to his teammates, placing his hands on his hips as he did so. Then his steps slowed and his attention turned to the side of the field. Squinting, Aisha tried to follow his gaze, but she didn't see what had caught his attention. Then he joined the rest of his teammates as they gathered up in a huddle.

Adam grasped Rocky on the shoulder and said something to him, to which Rocky nodded earnestly and the two turned to Tommy, who held his mouth guard in his hand. Aisha moved her hair off her forehead and twisted her mouth to the side.

"He's not playing well at all," she murmured.

"Yeah, Rocky seems to have a lot on his mind, "Trini concurred, saying exactly what Aisha had been thinking moments before. Startled, surprised, Aisha looked up at her and found Trini resting against the fence as well, a serene smile on her face.

"How'd you know that?"

Looking at Aisha out of the corner of her eye, Trini's smile widened. "I don't peg Rocky to be one to keep his feelings from being work on his sleeve," she explained. "I kind of knew that when I first met him, after he had taken on the Tyrannosaurus powers. He was so excited." She pulled her long hair behind her ear. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure how you guys were going to do as rangers. Getting these powers are exciting, I could understand that, but seeing how Rita and Zedd had managed to cause so much death and destruction over the years….well it was hard to see someone being so happy about it. But I always had a good feeling about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I can't really explain it. But I've had the feeling that you were going to be a great addition to the team. So seeing that my powers were transferred over to you…it was the best person I could see for being the new Sabertooth Tiger Power Ranger. And I can see that you've been doing a great job as your time went by."

Aisha nodded. "How did you know it was time for you to leave?"

"Are _you_ leaving?"

"I got a chance to travel abroad to Africa. It was part of a program I started when I was in Stone Canyon and it was transferred over here to Angel Grove. I did it before I became a ranger and now I'm able to go. That's why Tanya's here; she's who I'm trading with…she's the new yellow ranger."

"And all of it is now starting to become more real to you." Trini nodded. "I get it. You know, that's exactly how I felt. Not only was I leaving my home behind, the one place I had lived for most of my life, but I was leaving my friends, people I'd known for just as long, my boyfriend…" she trailed off and Aisha bit her lip, wondering where she was going to go with her statement next. She had no idea how Trini felt about Billy and Avalon now being together, Trini was just that mysterious to her. Energized, but calm. "It was hard to let it go. But it's the same as everyone says; if you love it, set it free. I loved being a ranger, I love my friends, I love Angel Grove…but it was my time to leave. You may take a lot of time thinking about what you could have done differently, if this was a good idea, what you could've done to have stayed a ranger, but throughout it all I'd say that it was better to have the experience than to not have it at all."

Aisha nodded in agreement, already starting to smile. She felt all of her anxieties starting to drain away. It was going to be even harder when it was actually time for her to leave but…right now she had the guidance she needed.

"I wish we could've been on the same team," Aisha said honestly, turning to her predecessor. "I would've liked to have gotten to know you the way everyone else has."

Trini smiled back. "There's still plenty of time for that, Aisha." She held out her arms and Aisha walked into them, hugging her tightly. Trini rubbed her back. "Just remember that everything happens for a reason. You were brought to us for a reason, you were a ranger for a reason, and you're going to Africa for a reason. You're worth a lot more than you give yourself credit for."

Aisha smiled and squeezed Trini, seconds before she heard a commotion. Looking behind Trini, she found a group of cogs appear on the ground behind them, wreaking havoc. They started to chase around students, grabbed food and threw it by the handful, some leapt over the fence and charged onto the football field.

"Looks like we were brought to the game for a reason, too," Aisha said. She motioned for Trini to turn around and the former ranger's eyes widened.

"What are those?" Trini asked.

"Cogs. They're part of the Machine Empire led by King Mondo."

"And to think I was starting to miss the putties."

"These guys are just as worse." Aisha crouched down into a fighting position and looked over at Trini to see that she had done the same. "Are you ready for another fight? It's been a while."

"If there's anything I can do to protect Angel Grove I'm all for it," Trini replied. "Powers or not." With that she darted forward and took down three cogs within a blink of an eye with skill that she had always possessed within her praying mantis style, but seemed to have improved whiles he had been in Vietnam. Aisha watched in awe as Trini flipped a cog over her arm and knocked it to the ground before striking another cog in the chest with a strong kick of her foot.

Aisha smiled before taking a running start and going after cogs of her own.

* * *

"Scott!" Jason turned towards the football coach, pausing as he pressed his mouth guard into his mouth. Even from where he was standing he could see the man's face was starting to turn red with frustration. "I can't take this anymore! You and DeSantos switch places! You're the wide receiver now. Get us some touchdowns! Finish those plays!"

Jason turned back towards Rocky, watching as the player lowered his head, having heard the shout as clear as day. He brought his hands up to helmet and lowered them before jogging to the other side of the field to take Jason's former position. Jason nodded towards the coach then jogged back onto the field with his teammates. He turned to Tommy and Billy and moved his mouth guard to the side so he could be heard clearly.

"Coach wants me to—"

"—Yeah, Jase, I think we heard that from way over here," Billy interrupted his friend. He cast a sympathetic gaze over towards Rocky. "But…he's really not playing as well as we know he can. Enhanced abilities or not."

"And if we want to win…then we have to do everything we can to do that, right?" Tommy added. "I'm sure he'll be okay after this game is over. He seemed to be in a pretty bad mood when he got to the field today." He looked as the referee blew the whistle, warning them that they had to start again. "Okay, Jason, I want you to go as long as you can, Billy you need to block him."

"Got it."

Jason gave a thumbs up before moving up to his spot on the offensive line with Billy right beside him. He waited, pressing his fist down onto the ground, waiting for the snap to be made. Once he heard it, he took off running across the field, with Billy directly in front of him. A Stone Canyon player tried to come up from the side and take him down, but Billy turned on his heel and slammed into the player, giving Jason a wide open berth. He twisted around, lifting an arm above his head as he waited for Tommy to regain his own space and throw the ball in a long driving pass. Tommy slapped his hand against the football and brought his arm back, snapping it forward.

Jason watched the arc of the spiraling ball and continued to race forward, an arm outstretched over his head. The ball continued to lower towards him, closer, and closer. Then he felt the football land in his palm and he pulled it against his chest, turning his body forward completely and raced down the street into the end zone, coming to a stop in a few drags of his feet.

Touchdown.

He could hear the sound of the Angel Grove supporters cheering loudly across the field as he turned and allowed himself to get crushed in the grasps and slams of congratulations from his teammates. Rocky gave him a half-hearted slap on the shoulder as he passed him. Jason grinned behind his helmet, moving to take his spot back. He glanced at the bleachers and grinned when he found his friends cheering enthusiastically, before it faded one he didn't see Trini in the stands. His eyes darted around the sea of faces to find her, and then his eyes turned to the school grounds. It took him a few moments before he found her and Aisha talking together, seconds before cogs appeared behind them. Trini whipped around and immediately launched into an attack with Aisha at her side.

Before Jason had the chance to shout out a warning, he felt arms wrap around his legs and knock him to the ground. Rolling onto his back he found the face of a cog looking directly into the mask of his helmet, as if trying to be sure he was indeed inside. Then the cog grabbed the face mask of his helmet and started to repeatedly slam Jason's head into the ground. He lifted his legs and wrapped them around the waist of the cog, lifting his lower half up as hard as he could then let go. The cog went flying overhead and crash landed onto the ground.

Reaching up, Jason unsnapped the buckles on his helmet and slid it off onto the ground. He did a kick-up to his feet and immediately drove his elbow into the face of another cog before grabbing its arm, punched it in the chest, and flung it to the ground. He turned towards the other cogs that now swarmed towards him, the other cogs storming the field, and did a few front flips—some of which were very sloppy due to the extra weight of his padding—and landed on his feet, starting in to an attack once more.

Looking behind him, he found that Rocky, Adam, Tommy, and Billy had all started to lead their teammates and the Stone Canyon players off of the field before turning their attention to the cogs themselves. Then looking over at the bleachers, Jason spotted Sabrina, Kimberly, Bailey, and Fred quickly evacuate the seats while Kat, Tanya, and Avalon charged down the steps and raced underneath them, shaking out their wrists so their morphers would appear as they went. When he spotted the bright flashes of light come from underneath the bleachers and saw the female rangers appear on the other side, he turned back to the cogs, ready to take them down.

* * *

As the warning siren blew over the grounds of Angel Gove high school, signaling the students and spectators to find shelter within the school, the rangers immediately flew into action. Once she spotted the cogs, Kat had leapt to her feet and immediately started to run down the bleachers, moving as quickly as she could. She didn't have to look behind her to know Tanya and Avalon were right behind her.

"It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger VI, Orange!"

Kat lead the charge out from beneath the bleachers and raced into the fray of cogs. She started out with a strong high kick into the head of the cog nearest to her, then turned back and punched it in the stomach. She turned to the other one nearest to her and sent a flurry of punches and kicks its way. One cog sent a blast of light towards her and she ducked out of the way, striking another one in the chest. Turning around, she came face to face with a cog whose eyes started to glow, signaling she was seconds away from being hit in the face with a laser blast.

"Zeo Power Disc!" She summoned her weapon and threw it up in front of her face. The blast ricocheted off her power disc and shot high into the air, disappearing from sight. Kat then turned around and threw her disc as hard as he could, causing it to crash through the middles of a few other cogs. She leapt high over tow more and punched them in the face, slamming them to the ground before holding out her hand, grabbing the disc as it flew back towards her.

Turning around she found Tanya and Avalon taking care of the cogs that were surrounding them with relative ease. Deciding they were doing fine, she got to her feet and raced onto the football field to help out the boys. Halfway there she skidded to a stop, seeing a large goat monster, the one she had seen in the mirror, in front of her. It let out a loud cry, scuffed its hoof against the ground, and charged towards Kat, striking her in the stomach ad lifting her up into the air. Kat let out a cry of pain as she crashed to the ground. The goat monster turned around and charged back towards her, crashing into her once more, sending her rolling backwards.

Then it came again.

To defend herself, Kat picked up her Power Disc and threw it hard, striking the goat monster directly in the middle of the face. It stumbled over its feet and crashed to the ground, landing hard on its side. Kat scrambled to her feet, feeling hands grasp onto her arms and she was pulled up out of the way. With al light gasp, Kat turned and found Tommy holding onto her arms.

"Tommy," she said with utmost gratitude. She then turned to her friends and looked them over. "Guys, are you lot okay?"

"We're fine," Adam said quickly.

"I can't say that for sure," Rocky said with a light shake of his head. He stared at the goat. "First I see a blue snail on the sidelines and now a pink goat!"

"A blue snail?" Billy repeated.

"They must be like Superbia," Adam pointed out, thinking quickly to the monster that had attacked Tommy. "If Rocky saw the snail and this goat is attacking Kat, then that means that these monsters are targeting us specifically." Tommy cursed under his breath. "And that means either me, Tanya, or Av is next."

"Yeah, but which one?" Rocky asked.

"We don't have time for that now; we have to take this thing down!" Jason declared; hands still clenched into fists. He leapt forward and rolled underneath the goat as it charged once more. Then turned back around and kicked it in the side. Tommy, Rocky, and Adam followed up, circling the monster and struck it in the sides well.

Kat grasped her power disc tightly, watching the fight play out in front of her, her eyes on the red zeo ranger, ponytail bobbing behind him, poking out from the back of his helmet. She felt herself smile a little. It was so nice, that he had come to her rescue like that. Tommy certainly seemed to have a thing for pink rangers.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the sound of a familiar cry and looked across the field to see Kimberly jump up high, doing a split that knocked two cogs in the face causing them to fall back to the ground. She held her hands up, looking around to be sure there were no others coming to attack her.

Kat brought ah and up to her helmet and closed, her eyes, shaking her head. _What are you thinking, Kat? He's with Kim!_ She tightened her grasp on the power disc and threw it as hard as she could once more. It slung around and struck the goat in the forehead. "Power Blaster!" Reaching into the holster attached to her side, Kat grabbed the energy blaster and shot it at the goat. It roared and backed away a few paces, scratching its hoof against the ground once more.

"This isn't the last of me, pink ranger," it said in a high-pitched, womanly voice. Almost siren-like. "You bring me so much more power than you think."

"What do you mean by that?" Adam demanded.

"Yeah, there's no way I'd ever help you!" Kat added.

"But you will. You rangers are the key to helping us take down Angel Grove. Soon the Machine Empire will take this planet hostage and will see to it that you're the firs to be destroyed." The goat and the cogs then disappeared, brought back up to the Machine Empire's headquarters, somewhere above Earth.

For another day they were given peace.

Kat sighed heavily, frustration twisted into it. Why couldn't they ever get a straight answer from these guys? Shaking her head, she placed her hands on her hips. She took once glance around before saying, "power down!" and de-morphed. "I don't know about this guys," she said to them. "It looks like these guys are going to be even harder than Rita and Zedd. Especially if they have some sort of plan up their sleeves that we're going to help them."

Billy rubbed his chin. "It's not entirely possible they'd be making another evil ranger," he said slowly. "It's not completely inconceivable but it wasn't something that worked with Rita and Zedd in the long run and they've already have the reputation of being worse than them." A snort escaped his lips. "Not that that's already difficult."

"We can't put our guard down," Tommy reminded them. "We need to see what Zordon and Alpha have to say about it. Maybe they can give us an idea."

"But what about the game?" Rocky asked. Though when he did his voice was very subdued, holding little to no excitement that he had before. Kat realized that his having been benched, essentially, was really hitting him hard. "We need to win."

"We'll go after the game," Tommy explained. He looked around as the sirens suddenly turned off. "Right now…everyone that came out to watch us play, they need something to keep them in a good mood. To show them that we can keep moving forward no matter what monsters are thrown our way. If we have to play a lot of football to do that. Then I say so be it."

"I agree," Kat said quickly. "It's not such a bad thing to spread some joy around, is it?"

As the other rangers agreed they didn't notice Tommy's eyes glow a shade of purple and Kat's a shade of pink.


	58. Urgent Matters

**Chapter 58**

_Urgent Matters_

* * *

"So we know that the Machine Empire has some specific monsters that are working for them," Fred commented, resting his palms on the end of the control panel. He brought his lips into his mouth. "But they still have those other monsters of theirs that are of their own creation."

"That is incorrect," Zordon corrected the young man. "The monsters that you have come across, those that encompass the seven deadly sins are monsters of the Machine Empire. It seems that Orbus and Klank have created them for King Mondo's use. And if that's the case, then we're in more trouble than I already feared."

Bailey let out a frustrated sigh, running her hand through her hair. "There's no way the Machine Empire can be that strong. They didn't actually beat Rita and Zedd, yeah? They just drove them off. And we've only _heard_ they had taken down other planets and universes, how do we know they're telling the truth."

"Unfortunately, Bailey, it is the truth," Alpha said to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "The Machine Empire is stronger than anything we've ever come across before. And if they have the cogs and lesser monsters to distract and waken the rangers while the Seven Deadly Sins monsters are the real threat, just like the horoscope monsters were, then the rangers are going to have to work hard to defeat them."

"What do these monsters even do?" Fred asked. "All they've done so far is attack Tommy and go after Rocky and Kat during the football game. That's not unlike anything every other monster has ever done before."

"That doesn't mean we can let our guards down either," Bailey pointed out.

Resting her chin in her hands, she leaned forward and tried to figure out what it was that made these monsters different than the horoscope ones. Both factions were represented by animals, and they each had different powers that went along with their horoscope. So for the Seven Deadly sins that would be a bit easier to determine what sort of powers they would have; Pride, Lust, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed. Lust, Envy, Wrath, and Greed were pretty easy to determine what those would be but the others…it wasn't nearly as obviously.

Sighing, Bailey shook her head. Things weren't supposed to go like this. She was supposed to have the chance of being a normal teenager now that she didn't have her ninja powers anymore. Or…she did still have them, as Dulcea said the powers of their animal spirits were to reside within them as long as they were alive and called upon them. But she couldn't morph. Not when the Zeo Crystal took up the power of the morphing grid and continued to grow stronger as long as the rangers were in contact with said crystals—which were within their morphers. Still, she had kind of been looking forward to being 'normal', being able to go to parties and hang out with other people. The football game was something she certainly looked forward to, being able to hang out with her friend and boyfriend and enjoy the game with little no problems.

She had even met Rocky's little brother and sister, Antonio and Isabella, and they had quickly become friends with her and Fred. To the point they had made plans to eat lunch together the next Monday. But then the cogs and Luxuria had attacked and it messed everything up. She immediately flew into action, taking down as many cogs as she could—something that each former rangers seemed to still have within them as she saw Aisha, Trini, Kimberly, and Jason aid the rangers as well—and getting as many people to safety. It was then she realized that maybe she didn't entirely want to leave being a ranger; it was a part of her and always would be. She had to face the facts that her talents were to be used somewhere else.

"Alpha, is there any way we can analyze the footage we have of Superbia and Luxuria?" Bailey asked, turning away from Zordon's power tube. "And Rocky said something about seeing a snail while we were at the football game. I want to be sure that we're getting everything we need before going up against them again."

"That's a good idea," Fred agreed. He reached out and gently nudged Bailey on the arm. She gave him a small smile and he tilted his head to the side. "Okay, what's wrong?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Come on, you're not all 'happy Bailey'. Usually you're so pumped and full of life and now…you're not. And I don't think it has anything to do with not having the enhanced human form when not being a ranger anymore."

"I'm just worried," Bailey said. She crossed her arms and shrugged. "If this Machine Empire is as bad as they say…I don't know if we can beat them. It hasn't been long since we got the Zeo Powers…a month or two. Maybe? And it doesn't seem like much progress is being made when we really need it." She shook her head. "Besides, it's hard to be so excited about these things when something worse keeps coming around." She put her arm around his upper back and smiled teasingly into his face. "But for you I'll try."

"That's all I ask for," Fred replied.

The two smiled at each other then Bailey turned her attention back to the viewing globe—which was now more like a screen than anything else, and watched as the feedback of the fight with Superbia went on. The rangers split up as Tommy fought against the mechanical parrot himself, and then the rest of the rangers went off after the cogs. Then there was the fight against Luxuria at the football game. She seemed to only be targeting Kat, just like Superbia went after Tommy. Then they played back the footage during the football game, where Rocky was walking along the side of the field, helmet in his hand. He turned as if something caught his eye and Bailey squinted, turning her head to the side.

"Did you see that?" She murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah," Fred agreed. He motioned for Alpha to pause the video and walked over to the viewing globe. Reaching out a hand he pressed his finger into a spot on screen. "Just about there, I saw something blue. It sort of looked like a snail." He pressed a hand to his chin, starting to pace back and forth. "So these three are specifically going after Tommy, Rocky, and Kat. We know that. Then there are the other four, but there are only Tanya, Adam, and Avalon left for them to go after. So one of the seven deadly sins…doesn't have a ranger to go after." He cleared his throat. "If they're as smart as Rita and Zedd had, slowly, grown to be, they're going to attack someone else that we know." He looked directly at her. "Could be one of us."

A grimace moved across Bailey's face before she could stop it. "Don't you think that would be a bit obvious?"

"You can't overestimate what our enemies are going to do, Bailey," Alpha reminded her.

"Alpha is correct," Zordon added. "If you underestimate the Machine Empire, then you will be doing a great disservice to yourself and the other rangers."

Bobbing her head back and forth, Bailey nodded. They had a point. Not every monster they went against was the same as everyone other monster they had fought before. Rita wasn't like Zedd, Zedd wasn't like Master Vile, and Master Vile wasn't like King Mondo. They all had their fair share of wins and losses—for Rita and Zedd there were more losses than wins—and monsters they never thought they would defeat. The horoscope monsters had been especially difficult and if it weren't for the Zeo Crystals showing themselves then they probably would have been destroyed by Rita and Zedd within a blink of an eye. She wondered what it would have been like if she and Av had joined the team at the same time the other rangers had.

She and her sister had been in Angel Grove that long; they had seen when the monsters first started coming around and when the power rangers first appeared. However they were never directly involved in the fights the rangers had gone through; they kept their heads down and continued on with their lives. They weren't going to school; they lived in an apartment that Avalon illegally paid for with the money she made from her time in the Vipers. It started to catch up with them pretty quickly and—along with Bailey's begging to go to school—they started to attend Angel Grove High and Middle School. However, it wasn't until Av had started to talk to the rangers it was when they were brought into their destiny as being power rangers. If they had joined the team at the very beginning, maybe things would have been easier for them…the transition would've been better; Av would've gotten out of the Vipers faster, they would have become family with the rangers faster…she probably wouldn't have been a ranger sooner.

With a heavy sigh, Bailey ran her hands over her face, pushing her hair back. Okay, she needed to think. What were they going to do if the other seven deadly sins monsters came around? They couldn't allow themselves to be caught off-guard. "We need to think of this systematically. These monsters always come around whenever we least expect it, when we're supposed to be having a good time, usually. But they don't attack at night. Which is good, yeah?" She chewed her lower lip, eyes shifting back and forth as she tried to figure out what was the best plan of action. "And they're attacking each of them specifically. And as we said, there was going to be a chance that Adam, Tanya, and Av are next. We can't particularly watch them all the time…but we _can_ see if we can get some information out of them when a fight comes around. Then we can trace them back to the Machine Empire."

"Okay…" Fred said slowly. "How are we going to do that?"

"I mean, Rita and Zedd managed to peek into our lives right? We can do that back to them…" Bailey thought for a moment. "Maybe we can invent something."

"That might be going a bit too far," Fred reminded her. "Especially when we have no idea if it's possible to even do that." He lifted his baseball cap off his head and ran a hand through his hair. "We can get them to talk," he suggested. "In battle these monsters have a tendency to say everything but their life story, so if the rangers can make the battle last as long as possible, then we can figure out what it is they're trying to do." He motioned back to the viewing globe. "Luxuria said that Kat was going to bring her more power. That the rangers are the key to taking down Angel Grove…for the Machine Empire."

All of a sudden Bailey thought of something. She whipped around and motioned to the viewing globe. "Zordon, Alpha play back the video from the football game one more time. Kat's footage. I think I saw something."

"You got it, Bailey," Alpha declared. He pressed a few button and the video played back. The two watched through the footage of the fight and then afterwards when the rangers were talking to each other.

Bailey immediately saw what she had noticed before. "Stop!" The picture froze on Tommy and Kat and Bailey moved forward, squinting her eyes as she looked at the picture. It was faint, but it was there. "Look, right here." She pointed specifically at their faces. "Their eyes…its glowing purple and pink. The exact same colors as the monsters." She chewed her lower lip. _But what does that mean? They haven't done anything different than we've seen. There hasn't been any sort of side-effects. Nothing oozing out of them, nothing that had the same sort of effects the others have done._ She said as much, which Fred nodded to in agreement. "This is frustrating. There has to be… _something_ …we can do."

"There's no point in dwelling on it right now, Bay," Fred pointed out. "The only thing we can do is tell the others what's going on and to keep an eye out. If the rangers really are the key to their powers growing…then they'll need to know sooner rather than later."

"Too right." Bailey glanced at her watch then frowned. "Alpha, Zordon, can you keep an eye on these monsters, let us know if another one comes around. There's not much more we can do right now."

"No problem," Alpha said. He turned away from the control panel and took a few steps over towards the young teens. "We will let you know as soon as something happens with the Machine Empire or their monsters. Billy will be in the Command Center soon and we can catch him up, see if there are any ideas he has for us."

"Bailey. Fred."

Zordon's voice caused the two to turn their attention to him. He was smiling proudly down at them, surprised, Bailey's eyebrows rose and she started to twist her fingers around the bottom of her shirt. "I know it can be difficult to sit on the sidelines and wait to see what will happen. But you two are helping us out more than you could ever imagine. Being a technical advisor is a very important job, as much as it is being a ranger. You both should be proud of yourselves."

"Thanks, Zordon," Fred said. He smiled but Bailey noticed it didn't reach his eyes. She didn't blame him. After having learned her secret of being a ranger, knowing the rest of the rangers' identities, it had to be hard to be a technical advisor and then get passed over for a new set of powers. Harder than she had it, being a technical advisor, then being a ranger, then going back to being a technical advisor once more. "It means a lot."

Bailey nodded in agreement.

She reached out and looped her arm through Fred's then lifted her hand, pressing a button not he side of her communicator. They teleported back to Fred's house and went inside, greeting his father as they went. "Hey kids," Mike greeted them. "What's going on? You look like you just lost your best friend or something."

"No. Nothing like that," Fred said. "We're just having problems figuring out some homework."

"Already? School just started again." Mike stared at his son for a long moment then crossed his arms over his chest. "Is everything alright?"

Fred nodded like a bobblehead while Bailey stayed silent. "Everything's fine, Dad. Just school. We're just having some trouble figuring out what our projects are going to be. We've already got some assigned and we want to get them done as soon as possible. You can never be too prepared."

Mike continued to watch his son then ducked his head. "If you're sure. If there's anything that you two need help with let me know. I'll be glad to. It's good to see you again, Bailey," he said to the former ranger. His eyes darted back over to his son and he grinned mischievously. "I already feel like you're part of the family, he talks about you so much."

"Dad!"

"I'm going. I'm going."

Mike left the living room and Fred crossed his arms over his chest, snuggling back into the couch. He let out a long breath through his nose. Bailey looked over at him, surprised to see how angry he appeared. She didn't know what to say; afraid that she'd make it worse. The two hadn't really fought before, only when he was demanding to know what it was she was keeping from him in terms of her secret of being a ranger. But now…

"I hate lying to my Dad," he muttered, finally breaking the silence. "We don't ever lie to each other. Not since Mom…" he trailed off, shaking his head. Reaching out, he grabbed onto his hat and turned it around so that the brim faced forward and he lowered it over his eyes. "We've always been so close and holding all of this in…not being able to tell him is hard. Especially after what happened with Ivan."

"You know you can't tell," Bailey reminded him, feeling an icy chill run through her body.

"Why? I'm not a ranger. Neither are you. We can't just say that we're helping them?"

"It wouldn't be that hard to figure it out considering everyone we hang around with and the fact that we're so freaking color coordinated." Bailey looked down at her purple tank-top and smiled a little, realizing that she couldn't completely get away from the color she had been assigned in her spandex suit.

"So why is it that so many people in _your_ life know?"

"That's because it was Av's secret to tell and it's the _worst_ kept secret I've ever."

Fred couldn't help but smile and laugh a little. There truly had been too many people that she had managed to reveal her secret to, even causing Bailey to reveal hers to Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone when the time came. As a matter of fact she had been the reason Bailey showed her secret to Fred as well. For the record none of it was Bailey fault.

"Listen." Bailey reached out and grabbed onto Fred's hand. "I know this is hard. But I'd hope that you would still stick with it."

"And I hoped that we'd be able to at least date a little, or spend more time together when we're not worrying about ranger stuff," Fred said. He blushed, twisting his mouth to the side. "We've only gone on one date since we first started going out and I kind of want to take my girlfriend somewhere."

Bailey's heart soared, her eyes lighting up at the word. Girlfriend. She always wanted to be someone's girlfriend. Ever since she saw her sister starting to date—before things blew up in their faces—she wanted to know what it was like; to have someone that she enjoyed spending all of her time with, to hug, to hold their hand, to hang out…and now she was someone's girlfriend. When did that happen? A confused expression came to her face as she tilted her head to the side. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of a conversation or whatever when two people were going to be boyfriend and girlfriend? Now that she thought of it, she didn't think any of the others had had that conversation, but they were brought together as they fought side by side.

"I'm your girlfriend?" She asked, trying her best to keep from squealing. "Like. Really? Seriously?"

Fred shrugged, lowering his chin even further. "I guess. Maybe. Kinda."

Now Bailey frowned. "What's the matter? You don't want to be my boyfriend?"

" _Am_ I your boyfriend?"

"Didn't you just say I was your girlfriend?"

"Well, I didn't know if you wanted me to ask or not," Fred pointed out. "I just assumed…because we spend so much time together…and we have fun and everything…and we kissed…" now his face turned as red as a tomato. Laughing, Bailey reached out and grabbed onto the brim of his hat and lifted it off his head.

"You're embarrassed," she teased him. "You like me."

"Stop!" Fred leaned over and grabbed his hat back from her as Bailey continued to laugh in unbridled glee. He spun his hat in his hand. "I do like you," he finally admitted, keeping his eyes away from her. "And I like being able to help out the rangers. But we're not going to do it forever. At some point, we're probably not going to do it anymore...half the team has already changed. Tommy is the only one that has been there since the beginning, but, honestly, there is no one from the original team that's left. How much longer will it take before Rocky is replaced or Adam, or even Av? I don't want my life to completely run around it."

"Ace." Bailey nodded. "Because it should run around me!" She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'd love to be your girlfriend. She then pulled her hand back and whacked him on the arm. "Boofhead! I thought you were breaking up with me!"

"With a punch like that I don't think so." Fred rubbed his arm. "Not only that, but you have Av and Tommy as your sister and brother. If I broke up with you I'd fear for my life more than anything else."

Bailey laughed.

Captain Mitchell pressed the palm of his hand over his mouth and stared at the file that he held up in his other hand. Reports from Angel Grove. None of them were good. The construction in the city didn't seem t be progressing very well. Every time there was something added to the city, whenever plans were made, a monster came around and knocked it down again. People were leaving the city in droves, much more than those that were deciding to stay or willing to move to the city.

That wasn't the issue.

The issue was the new threat that was appearing in Angel Grove. Rita and Zedd were gone; NASADA had given them that information, there were no readings of them around. But there was now a new sort of threat against Angel Grove as they have gotten from other readings. They weren't sure what it was yet, but there was something that was hovering around above Earth, causing even more harm as the seconds passed. This was a big threat that needed more attention than the rangers currently had.

Placing the files down, he reached out and pressed a tiny, white button on his telephone. "Miss. Fairweather, could you make an appointment please?"

"Yes, Captain Mitchell. With whom am I making this appointment?" His assistant's voice came back fairly quickly.

"With a General Norquist at NASADA. Tell him it's urgent."


	59. Unaffected

**Chapter 59**

_Unaffected_

* * *

"Are you serious?" Kim asked, her eyebrows rising. "They actually all bathe together?"

Trini nodded and grabbed a handful of popcorn that sat in the bowl in the middle of the circle she completed with Kimberly, Avalon, Aisha, Kat, and Tanya. "It was weird at first, just because I'm not really comfortable with showing my body like that—"

"—Coming from the girl that wears crop-tops about as much as Kim does," Avalon pointed out. Trini gave her a playful smile and tossed her handful of popcorn all over the orange ranger.

"—But you get used to it. It's a real bonding thing." Trini brushed her hair behind her ears, dusting off her hands. "I really feel like I'm family over there. I mean, I know I'm visiting my family but I feel like I really belong there." She looked around at the girls and gave a modest shrug. "I never thought I would leave Angel Grove but…I think I'm going to stay there for a while. Finish up school and then figure out what to do next."

"It's such an amazing feeling, right?" Aisha asked, a little hesitantly. She tugged at a loose thread that came from the bottom of her cotton pajama pants. "I mean…I guess I never realized how nervous I was going to be in terms of moving to Africa. But…I feel like I'm drawn there."

Tanya beamed as she heard about the former ranger's excitement to go to her old home. "You'll truly feel like you're at home," she said. "And my village, I know they'll take great care of you. Just as you and your family are doing for me."

Kat smiled as she listened to the girls around her talk to each other without a care in the world. When she had been invited to go to Kim's house for the sleepover she had been surprised. But Kim had insisted, as a matter of fact, as Kim had been sure to note, Kat was the first one that she invited her. "Come on, us pinks have to stick together, right?"

"Right," Kat agreed. And yet she couldn't help but stare at Kim, waiting for some sort of evil glint in her eye or something that would give away that she was kidding. Heck, even a sword to her gut would've made more sense to Kat than Kim's gung-ho attitude of wanting her at her house for a sleepover.

 _Stop worrying about it, Kat,_ Kat scolded herself as she packed to go that night, being sure that she had her communicator in case something came about. If the Machine Empire was smarter than Rita and Zedd, and it seemed that it was the case, there was bound to be a fight that night.

"It's kind of the same for us and Angel Grove," Bailey piped up, motioning between herself and Avalon, who nodded. "It's become as much of our home as Australia has. I really feel like there's a lot for me here."

 _Oh._ Kat thought, suddenly saddened by the thought of her home. _Home._ She hadn't thought about Australia in a long time; her farm house, her parents, her dog, her life. It was all gone while she was in America. Well, her parents had moved with her, due to her father's job, but it just wasn't the same .She didn't spend so much time with them because of school work and her ranger duties, but there was nothing like the warm Australian air that enveloped her in a tight hug when she arrived home. Not to mention her diving…she didn't realize how much she had missed it.

"But what about you, Kim?" Aisha asked, turning the attention back to the former pink ranger. "What brings you back here to Angel Grove?"

"Yeah, do you miss Tommy already?" Avalon asked. Resting her chin in her hands, she gave a smarmy smile. "Hate to break it to ya, Pinkerbell, he's not that great." She ducked out of the way as Kim tossed a pillow at her.

"You're just saying that because he's your brother," Kimberly teased her. "How's that going by the way?" She laughed as Avalon and Bailey both made noncommittal mumbling sounds. "I guess as well as they can. Kind of like things with the Machine Empire." She shook her head. "I still can't believe they sent monsters down to attack during a football game. They're getting smarter."

"And you're changing the subject," Trini pointed out.

"Right," Aisha agreed. "What are you doing back here in Angel Grove?"

For a moment, Kat noticed Kim's smile fade. "I missed everybody," she replied quietly. "A lot more than I thought I would. I talk about you guys all the time." She laughed, her smile blooming once more. "Coach Schmidt is always teasing me, calling me Angel because I'm always going on and on about Angel Grove and everything back here." Her eyes lit up. "Oh! But my gymnastics…guys Coach Schmidt is the best. I don't think I could ever have gotten any better training from anyone other than him."

Kat smiled and nodded as she listened. _She missed everything in Angel Grove, couldn't have missed all of us too much. _She bit her bottom lip, immediately hating herself for the thought.

For a while Kat sat on the floor and watched as the girls continued to talk and laugh with each other, listening to Kim's stories about Coach Schmidt and her gymnastics training. She had never felt so disconnected from people before, it was like she was standing next to a glass window and watching everyone have fun without her. Quietly, she got off the floor, made and excuse that she was going to go to the bathroom, and left the room. Tiptoeing quietly, she passed Ms. Hart's room and went down to the kitchen where the girls had stored all of their stuff earlier that day. Sliding her feet into her shoes, Kat looked around for her bag and picked it up, dragging it to the back door.

She glanced over her shoulder, holding her breath as she waited for someone to come down behind her. Once she as sure the coast was clear she let out a low breath and looked around the kitchen. Going out through the back door was the best way to leave without anyone noticing she was going. Especially considering how noisy the heavy front door of the house was. She wouldn't be surprised if anyone tried to break into the house made absolute sure not to touch the front door for that reason alone. If anyone's place was bound to be a hit for a robbery, it was Kim's. Even Tanya had been impressed at everything that was within the house when the girls arrived that night.

Kat reached out towards the door when she heard her name spoken quietly. Turning around, she was surprised to find Avalon walking towards her, pushing the sleeves to her sweatshirt up her arms. Kat smiled a little as she watched the orange ranger approach; her already small stature appeared to be swallowed by the sweatshirt enough for Kat to be reminded of an oompa loompa.

"Hey, Av," Kat greeted her just as quietly. Noticing Avalon's gaze move towards her packed bag that rested on the floor by her feet. "I was just—"

"Why are you leaving?" Avalon interrupted, frowning slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "We only just got started."

"I know, I just…" Kat reached up and scratched her forehead, nervously moving her hair out of her face. It was hard to explain, a little childish, actually. That she felt left out when Kim was around, that she didn't think anyone was paying too much attention to her? That she felt overshadowed? That she was suddenly very aware that she was still a replacement for someone that everyone liked a lot more than her? All of those ideas ran through her mind and she lowered her gaze in shame. "I just…though it might be a good idea if I went home."

"Why?"

"Because…" Kat sighed and walked over to a chair at the kitchen table. She was tired of being ashamed, keeping it all inside. She had to tell someone or else she would explode. "Because Kim's here. And I can't match up to Kim."

Avalon sat down across from her, eyebrows furrowing together. "Who said you have to?"

"No one. But I can tell that the others are disappointed she's not still a ranger." Kat rested her arms on the table then lowered her hands to her lap. She couldn't stop fidgeting. "I can see it. Whenever Tommy turns my way before we morph…after we get back from a fight…I can see it in his face every time. The disappointment. The way he always comes over to help me out whenever I fall." She shook her head. "You saw how everyone reacted when Kim came back it's like….it's like she's the heart of the team and the team fell apart without her here."

Avalon, who had stayed silent the entire time of Kat's explanation continued to stare at Kat. The pink ranger lowered her head and chewed her lower lip. She knew she shouldn't have had said anything. She should have just kept her mouth shut and snuck out of the house even quieter so no one would have been able to find her and she wouldn't currently be sitting in the kitchen on the verge of tears. And…very aware that she was talking to herself. Kat rolled her eyes slightly.

"I know how you feel," Avalon finally said, breaking Kat out of her thoughts. Kat's head jerked up sharply. "It's not the _exact_ same situation, but I know how you feel. When I first joined the rangers I was in a bad place in my life .Without going into too many details I'm surprised that I was actually able to become a ranger. Sure, the others were open to me joining the team but because of some choices I made or maybe because I was just new, I don't know for sure, they didn't completely trust me." She held up a hand. "Not that I blame them. And as you can tell we ended up becoming friends but…I still have the feeling that I don't completely belong. They've been a team longer than they were power rangers and that can be very…jarring at times, especially when you're new into it."

Kat nodded slowly as she listened to what Avalon had to say. It was exactly what she thought it was like. And while it was true, Avalon hadn't been a replacement for anyone, it still had to be hard to join a team filled with people that had known each other longer than any of them could even remember. And Tommy had the same problems as well…she wasn't blaming Billy, Kim, Jason, Trini, or Zack in any way. There was no way she could blame them for something they had become used to But it was how comfortable they were with each other, in terms of how they were with other members of their team that was difficult.

She had to get over it but…her eyes trailed over to the Australian teen that sat across from her. Why was Av being so nice to her? Since she had moved to Angel Grove, releasing herself from the grasp that Rita held onto her, the orange ranger had been standoffish to her, choosing instead to align herself with Billy, Tommy, Jason, and Bailey. Even Kat couldn't help but notice that she didn't appear as close with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, though they seemed to hold onto their own group as well. There were a few undercut comments here and there and she didn't really seem to make an effort to hide and Kat wasn't the kind of person to push things for she didn't particularly enjoy confrontation.

So what was it now?

Shifting in her seat, Avalon raised her left leg up and rested her foot against the end of the chair and wrapped an arm around her knee. "You know what my problem is?" Kat shook her head as she shrugged. "I bloody hate change." A chuckle escaped Avalon's lips as she thought about her significant flaw." I hold onto what's normal for me as long as you can. But when whatever is normal is attacked in any way, I deflect my confusion and fear onto everyone around me in anger and just being mean. I was that way when I first met the rangers, I was that way when Rocky, Adam, and Aisha joined the team, and I'm the same way with you." She brushed her hair from her face, eyes narrowing for a moment. "I just became so used to the friends that I had that I didn't trust or believe in anyone that took any of their places. But _not_ the same team we used to be. And we never will. And I have to accept that." She looked at Kat once more. "And it took me a while to realize that no one should be considered a replacement for anyone else, especially because we're al different people and bring different things to the team."

She looked Kat in the eye. "I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you and adding onto your insecurities that you feel that you don't deserve to be on the team. You have your own powers now, Kat. The Zeo Ranger Powers. If that doesn't show you that you deserve to be on this team, that you're your own person, that you're not just a replacement for anyone else…then I don't know what will."

Kat felt a smile tug at her lips no matter how hard she tried to stop it. Though as much as it did help to know that there were others that felt the way she did, she couldn't help but still feel empty inside.


	60. Excitement Leads To Sadness

**Chapter 60**

_Excitement leads to Sadness_

* * *

"You know, I didn't think I would ever see my house filled with fighting teenagers again," Marissa Scott said with a shake of her head. Placing her hands on her hips, she watched as Tommy and Jason continued to move back and forth across the living room floor, aiming high kicks and blocking punches from each other. "And I didn't think I'd have to worry about my furniture again." With that, she reached out and grabbed onto a vase the boys came close to knocking over. "Please don't break anything."

Jason held up a hand, signaling Tommy to stop for a second before turning back to his mother with a bright smile. "We're not going to break anything, Mom, I promise."

"I seem to remember a time where you were saying the exact same thing second before Zack drop-kicked a football into my window and broke it," Marissa said, with a pointed stare.

Jason smiled sheepishly and shrugged though the mention of Zack made his heart sink. Since the last phone call he still hadn't heard much from his best friend. They sent emails back and forth every now and then but other than that there wasn't a lot of communication with him. He even tried the communicator, hoping to get a response and he got nothing. His parents didn't say there was anything wrong with him whenever he called and yet he was too busy to come to the phone. He was starting to think Zack was avoiding him on purpose, of that there was something else he was trying his hardest to hide. Jason made a mental note for his father to speak to them and figure out what was going on. He went over to his mother and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We'll be careful. I promise." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and took the vase back from her. "But just to be on the safe side, I'll put this in the closet."

"Thank you," Marissa said. She rested her hand on her chest. "There's some food laid out for you guys in the kitchen. Your father and I will be upstairs if you need anything."

"Thanks, Mom."

After putting the vase away, Jason turned back towards his friends just as the Red Zeo Ranger attacked him once more. He ducked out of the way and shuffled back and forth on his feet before the two were in a constant battle of flying fists and feet. Finally, they stopped with Jason's foot against Tommy's neck and Tommy's fist right against Jason's stomach. Grinning, they took a step back and took the time to bow before grasping each other's hands and giving each other a man hug.

Billy leaned forward and rested his arms against his upraised knees. "Something tells me that we're never going to find out who, between the two of you, is the better fighter." He blew his blond fringe out of his face with a short breath. "Doesn't seem like anyone's going to stop trying though."

"So you're saying we should just roll over and take it?" Tommy flopped onto the floor next to him, picking up his phone and glancing at the screen.

"No, I'm saying that no matter how good you get, you're not going to find out so you may as well give up now."

"I don't think I've ever known you to want to give up on something, Billy," Jason added, sitting on his other side. His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked around the room, noticing Adam was laughing quietly next to him with Fred in the corner of the room, practicing some of his own martial arts, but didn't see his successor. "Where's Rocky?"

"I'm right here." The blue Zeo ranger walked out of the kitchen, a pile of food in his arms, a bag of chips hanging from his mouth. He grabbed onto the bottom of it and ripped it open with his teeth. His eyes widened once his friends all started to laugh. "What? She said there was plenty of food for everyone. I didn't take it all." He sat down amongst his friends. "We're going to need as much as we can get if we're going to go against these monsters based off the Seven Deadly Sins."

Jason ran a hand over his face before rolling onto his back. He tried his hardest not to let his frustration show, but found his hand clenched into a fist, the other resting behind his head. There had to be something he could do to help them out, something other than sticking around the Command Center and watching everything unfold before him. He never realized how hard it would be to do that, and couldn't understand how anyone could manage to do so. He was sure Billy, Bailey, and Aisha felt the same way, after having been rangers for so long and then suddenly sidelined like the others…

 _It's our duty to take every responsibility that comes our way,_ he reminded himself, closing his eyes. But that didn't mean his leadership instincts would completely go away when he was thrust into a new environment.

"The hardest thing, of course, is not knowing what's at stake," Adam commented, breaking Jason out of his thoughts. "We know that each of these monsters are attacking us specifically, targeting us. We know that the six of us are targeted, but there's still one more monster, who is that one going to go after? And what can we do to stop them before it gets to that point?"

"There's nothing we can do but speculate," Tommy pointed out. "Because we don't know what these guys can do specifically. So far the peacock attacked and so has the goat. It attacked me and Kat. They haven't done anything but attack us, nothing specific. So we won't know until they do something bigger."

"The chances of them doing something bigger is about a ratio of 90 to 1 considering everything we've gone through so far throughout our ranger duties," Billy commented. He closed his eyes for a minute as he calculated it. "I also suspect that it'll happen sooner than later as well as it proves the Machine Empire is watching us just as much as Rita and Zedd have. And that's quite obviously not good. If they've already gone after us in terms of attacking at a football game, what's to say that we won't be attacked while we're with our families? While we're asleep. Right now."

"Please don't jinx it, Billy," Fred said from the corner of the room, his right foot held up into the air, balancing on his left foot. "God knows what we really need right now are for the Cogs to show up in here." He lowered his foot and twisted around, eyes searching the living room for an unfamiliar face.

Jason smiled at the caution of the young boy. He wasn't sure what to think about Fred when he first met him, other than to be someone else they had to keep their secret from. He was Bailey's friend, who stuck to her side like glue and helped them out on more than one occasion before even knowing of their identities as a power ranger. Now he was someone he could potentially see as a new ranger if the time ever came. Though he did work really well in the Command Center alongside Billy and Bailey, having single handedly created a plan that helped the rangers on more than one occasion.

"I don't know, I could kick some cog butt at the moment," Adam said with a small smile. "As long as we could use it to get one step closer to the Machine Empire." He ran a hand through his hair. "These guys have to be holding back if they were able to take over different planets and universes, even running off Rita and Zedd."

"I didn't think we'd ever see the day," Tommy said. He put his phone down, eyebrows furrowing together. "Where Rita and Zedd were finally defeated. If anything I thought they would manage to find a way to destroy themselves. Especially after getting married." He laughed loudly. "I _still_ can't believe that. Someone that had put Rita into her space dumpster ended up marrying her."

Rocky shrugged and mumbled around his mouthful of food, "You can't help who you fall in love with."

With that, the boys started laughing. "Look who's the expert now," Jason joked. "But we all know that your first love has been and always will be food."

"I'm a growing boy. I need my food," Rocky mumbled, slumping over his hoard of food. He smacked Adam's hand away as the green zeo ranger leaned over to take a stack of cookies. "Get your own, man. I'm not above biting your hand off if I need to."

"God knows he'll find it tasty."

The boys laughed and Jason looked at his watch. He wanted to change the subject, talking about ranger duties was starting to become harder and harder as the days passed. Not just because he had to push away his instincts, but because of what he had done to try and stay in top shape the last time. Taking steroids, lifting more weights than he had ever been able to do before, sucking down as many protein shakes he could get his hands on. It helped his fights in some aspects, but there were many side effects he couldn't get over. His tempers flared more than he wanted, he ended up becoming _too_ strong, where he would find that he hurt someone by shaking their hand, or punched a punching bag too hard. He could see his friends were worried about him but he continued to ignore them until his mother and father sat him down and told him why it was so bad. Addiction ran in his family, his uncle was suffering from it and they were worried he would fall into that slump.

That's why he had left in the first place, giving his powers over to Rocky. He wanted to help his uncle, to see what was going on with his family, to help them out in a way that he would be able to help better. It was a hard decision to make, but the decision he knew he had to.

 _Maybe I'm addicted to being a ranger,_ Jason entertained the thought. _One it comes into your life it's hard to stay away from. Once a ranger always a ranger._ When he was gone with his family he thought of nothing but Angel Grove and what his friends were doing. It hurt worse when the battle with Ivan Ooze was going on and he could feel the destruction of his Tyrannosaurus zord, hear it crying out for him as it fell apart and collapsed to the ground. While the other rangers had their animal spirits, the tyrannosaurus spirit was always going to be within him.

"Who wants to play a game of basketball?" He asked.

Anything to take his mind off of it.

He didn't want to talk about rangering at the moment. Not when it would move onto the topic of the dreams he had been having lately. Dreams where he was a ranger again, where he was fighting side by side with the current rangers. It wasn't a strange dream in itself other than that it felt so real. He would wake up with his hand out in a fist, as if punching a cog. Other times he found himself waking up in the middle of the room with a foot in the air, coming down from a high jump kick. He hoped he never slept walked to the point that he would accidentally attack his Mom or Dad if they woke up to see what he was doing.

The boys readily agreed to the game and they went outside to the Scott's driveway. He took a basketball out of the garage and spun it in his hands. "Okay, so Tommy and I are on a team—"

"Wait, who decided that?" Rocky broke in.

Billy sighed, placing his hands on his cheeks. "Either way it'll be a disadvantage; Tommy and Jason are either on the same team or they're against each other. If they're on the same team they get to be incredibly…" he looked the two best friends up and down with a disdainful eye before continuing. "Ego-centric. But when they're on different teams the game to be bloodthirsty so it's the lesser of two evils."

"Okay, so we have Tommy, Jason, and Fred on one team and me, Adam, and Billy on the other. Okay? Case closed." Rocky darted forward and grabbed the ball from Jason's hands. He scurried away, bouncing the ball right at his side. He bounced it a few times then took a shot, sinking the basket in a shot that went in with ease. "Huh, I should join the basketball team."

"Please, you know your Dad wants you to stick with football as much as possible," Adam said, catching the ball. He immediately paled, noticing his mistake when Rocky glared at him. "Sorry, man, I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's okay," he said after a minute, scratching his forehead. "You're right, anyway."

"We know what you're going through," Tommy reassured him, catching the ball as Adam took a shot, making it bounce off the rim and fall to the ground. He scooped it up and did an easy layup. "Zack wanted to focus more on his dancing, rather than football but his Dad didn't want him to. He was aware of the scholarship opportunities and going to a great school because of football and he pressured Zack a lot."

"What'd he end up doing?"

"Zack did what Zack always does," Jason reassured him. "He does what his heart tells him to, so he continued to dance, but he continued to play football as well. He's very aware that having a life in dancing is going to be hard, but it's his dream to make something of himself. He doesn't ever let anything get in the way of what his heart wants." He clapped his hands and moved to the side so that Tommy could pass him the ball. Billy moved to block his way and he grinned as the two shuffled back and forth while Jason tried to find a break away. Finally, he drove to the side, gently shoving Billy in the chest—but enough to knock him over—and did a layup to get a basket.

He turned back to Tommy and Fred and gave them a high-five before reaching over to Billy and reaching his hand out. Billy grasped his hand in a firm grip and allowed himself to get pulled to his feet in one tug. He smiled and patted him on the back as Billy gave him a playful shove out of the way. It was sort of weird to see Billy like this; more confident in himself and laid-back in his abilities though not one to limit his obvious smarts as well. Jason could see him mentally calculating the correct placement of shooting before doing so, watching it go in with ease as well. It was far different from the Billy he used to know; who was so into his experiments and studies that he was deemed a nerd and picked on mercilessly.

Now this guy graduated earlier than any other student in the history of Angel Grove High School and had the world at his fingertips. It didn't seem that his mother's death had bogged him down with depression at all, though the sadness was there in his movement. Nevertheless, Jason was proud that the former blue ranger had managed to find the strength in himself that Jason has seen when they met in first grade. He remembered the time fondly as having gotten in trouble for not doing well on any of his math work until Billy had been assigned to help him, making it easier for him to understand. He had been part of their groups of friends ever since and he didn't know what he'd do without him, or Kimberly, Trini and Zack.

He hadn't realized how much he missed while he was gone until then. How much time continued to pass by while he was with his uncle and parents.

"Come on, let's play," Fred said, grabbing the ball. "A real game."

Jason laughed as it was bounced his way. "You got it." He faced off against Billy and Tommy started the jump ball, which he managed to snag out of the air. Passing the ball behind his back to Fred, he darted around Adam for a clear shot in the driveway for a shot.

All of a sudden he felt a hard shove to his side and he fell to the asphalt hard. The ball bounced overhead and was suddenly stopped in someone's hands. He looked up and found a cog standing over him, holding onto the basketball. Lifting it up, the cog threw the basketball down towards Jason and he rolled out of the way before it collided with his head before doing a kick-up to his feet. Lashing out his back foot, he caught the cog in the chest and it fell over.

Falling into a fighting stance, he watched as the cogs surround him and his friends and immediately launched into battle. Ducking out of the way of a nearby cog, Jason focused on taking down those that are around him. But they fought back with as much strength as they could muster. He was surprised at how much his hands and feet stung whenever he came into contact with a cog, realizing fairly quickly that they were made of metal as well. "King Mondo knew what he was doing when he created these things," he murmured under his breath as they fell back from his punches but didn't fall completely.

They were better than the putties, who seemed to get weaker and weaker as their fights continued. Then again, they were coming from Rita and Zedd, who seemed to fall apart with their fights at nearly every twist and turn. Not to mention the putties didn't seem to understand how to work together to take down the putties, even Goldar was a bit more of a challenge. But the cogs, they were on an advanced level than the putties were.

Jason felt two cogs grab onto his arms and he lifted his feet to take down the cogs that stood in front of him. As his legs came down, he brought his body weight down with him, slamming the cogs to the ground. He flipped over and did a series of punches and kicked that knocked down even more of the putties that continued to swarm around him until they finally backed away. Glancing around, Jason watched as the rest of his friends continued to make work of the cogs, to which they disappeared quickly afterwards.

"Is everyone okay?" Fred asked once they were all gone.

"Yeah, we're fine," Adam said.

"What was that about? The cogs don't ever start a fight for nothing," Rocky added.

"He's right," Billy agreed. "It usually starts as some sort of a distraction." He shrugged. "Other than proving my theory right about them watching us all the time."

"Well, from our experience we know they never attack at night," Tommy pointed out. "So we'll be safe for the rest of tonight. Zordon and Alpha probably would have alerted the girls about it by now so they'll be on alert over there. Right now we shouldn't let this ruin our night. But we'll keep an eye out to make sure Mr. and Mrs. Scott don't caught in the crossfire."

"Thanks, man," Jason said quietly, patting Tommy on the shoulder. He had heard what happened to Billy's mother, he didn't think he would be able to handle it himself.

"You're welcome."

* * *

The rest of the night passed uneventfully on the villain front. There weren't any other cogs that showed up, none of the Seven Deadly Sins monsters, and King Mondo didn't send down a super sized monster that would bring in the need of the zords. So the boys did what any other boys would do when they were spending the night at each other's house; continued to play basketball, played pranks on each other all night, gorged out on food, watched TV and movies and played video games until they couldn't keep their eyes open anymore. Rocky even managed to fall asleep amongst a pile of wrappers and half empty pieces of food, he was so tired.

And yet Tommy had been awake for most of the night. When he was texting Kim goodnight he got a text in reply that kept him more alert than anything: _We need to talk._ That was never a good sign. Especially since she wanted to see him early the next morning. So once it was early enough, after a few hours of tossing and turning, he snuck out of the Scotts' house, being careful not to step anyone—narrowly avoiding falling onto Adam as he lost his balance—and went outside. Kim was already standing on the front porch waiting for him.

"Hey," she greeted him quietly.

"What's going on, Beautiful?" Tommy asked, reaching out and gently taking her arm. They stepped away from the door in case anyone wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation. "You've been acting really weird since you came back. And because of your text…I can't help but think that I've done something wrong."

"It's not you," Kimberly said honestly. She lowered her head for a second. "I promise. It has nothing to do with you. It's…it's everything else." She took a deep breath and started to pace back and forth. "I came back to Angel Grove to see everyone again. I missed you all so much. You especially. Of course you, but at the same time, I've felt something else…"

Tommy shrugged as he looked at her. He didn't get it. He continued to watch her as she twisted her hands over each other. There was something off about her and yet…this was _Kim._ His Kim. The girl that faced danger with as much determination as anyone she ever knew. She had been kidnapped and targeted by Rita and Zedd more often than anyone could count and yet she faced it head on. This was the girl that despite suffering from anorexia still managed to be herself and want to get better but continue with her gymnastics opportunity. The girl that didn't want others to worry about her so much and moved out to Florida on her own. The girl he loved so much.

Tommy reached out and grabbed onto Kim one more, tilting her head back so that he could see right into her eye. "What's going on, Beautiful?" He asked again. "It's me, Tommy. You can tell me anything."

Kimberly looked up at him sadly, turning her head so that her cheek pressed into his palm. She took in a deep breath and let it out through her nose. Finally she opened her eyes and gaze up at him once more, looking deep into his eyes. "I do a lot of work on my issues with my eating disorder. There are some days that are great and there are other days that are terrible. Sometimes I continue to make myself throw up, other times I don't eat at all, other times I exercise to the point of passing out. But I'm working on it. And you know what gets me through that? Thinking about you. Thinking that you're waiting for me to come back. Thinking about being together with you again. But at the same time you hold me back. Whenever I think of you I think of the times that you've had to save me and I need to be able to save myself."

Tommy blinked down at her, feeling pain suddenly explode in his chest. He knew what she was saying but at the same time he couldn't imagine it. No. Not this. Not now. "Are you breaking up with me?" He managed to breathe.

Kimberly closed her eyes and a tear fell from her cheek. She wiped it away. "I don't want to," she said honestly. He could hear the sincerity her voice. She really didn't want to. "I really don't want to. But I don't know how I'm going to improve if I'm always thinking about you…and not about me." She started to cry harder, bringing her hands to her face and wiping the tears away as quickly as she could. "I really don't want this. But…I think it's the only way I can get better. 100% better."

Reaching out, Tommy gently held her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead, nose, and mouth, and then held her to his chest, rubbing her back. She wrapped her arms around him and held on as tightly as she could. Tommy rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes. He wanted nothing to do but hold onto her, not let her go unless he absolutely had to. But she was right. She wouldn't be able to get better if she didn't try to work on herself without worrying about him.

"I'm sorry," Kimberly whispered.

"Hey. Hey." Tommy gently pulled her head back so he could look at her again. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You just get better, become as strong as I know you are, and we'll figure things out." Kimberly nodded, sniffling quietly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."


	61. Yellow's Greed

**Chapter 61**

_Yellow's Greed_

* * *

Tanya stretched her arms over her head before sinking in her seat, yawning quietly. She did her best to keep her eyes open while she listened to Ms. Appleby give the lecture on…whatever it was she was telling them about. It was hard to pay attention; her eyes just wouldn't stay focused. She had overestimated the amount of studying was needed in an American school and had stayed up the entire night before to get ready for the test they were to have in a class later that day. There was still time to get some last minute cramming in, but it was already starting to make her suffer in her other classes.

 _If I knew it was going to be this hard, I might have thought longer about deciding to do the exchange program,_ Tanya, thought, rubbing her hands over her face. She sat up straight, blinking hard; trying to focus on what Ms. Appleby was saying .Something about the homework due the next day…oh she had no idea. Her eyelids started to droop, her head bobbing forward and leaning back every few seconds as she fought to stay awake. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to find Adam gently shaking her awake. She gave him a soft smile and looked up to find Ms. Appleby wrapping up the class.

She let out a low sigh of relief and gathered her books together before standing up and joining the flow of students as they left the room. She hugged her books to her chest and waited for Adam to reach her side before smiling up at him once more. "Thank you," She said to him, voice filled with gratitude. She reached out and gently tugged on the sleeve of his green plaid shirt, maneuvering the two around the throng of students in front of them. "If it wasn't for you, I definitely would have fallen asleep. I hope Ms. Appleby wasn't too upset with me. I want to make a good impression."

"Its fine, Tanya," Adam reassured her. "Every now and then someone is falling asleep in her class." He lowered his voice, leaning towards her. "We have a bit more of a reason for it, but it happens." Tanya nodded. For the past week she and the rest of the rangers had been fighting monsters just about every day. They hadn't seen the Seven Deadly Sins monsters for a while but the Machine Empire was still going strong about attacking the rangers. "Ms. Appleby will help you with whatever you need."

"What I _need_ is to be prepared for our test," Tanya pointed out. She shook her head. "I mean, I know I just moved here and I'm not expected to understand _everything_ but it's hard. I never thought being in America would be so difficult. I don't feel like I fit in at all."

"You fit in with us," Adam pointed out.

"Yeah…but that's because we're all trying to defeat the Machine Empire. I don't fit in with everyone else. I don't talk like you guys, I don't…" she trailed off, shaking her head. She felt like a tiny fish in a big pond. Her village was so small she knew everyone within it and it felt like a community, a real family. In Angel Grove everyone was nice, but she felt that she was being judged the second she walked away. "I don't know, I guess I'm still trying to find my place around here."

"Don't worry about it," Adam said with an encouraging wave of his hand. "Everyone feels that way sometimes. But you came from another country so you're trying to become adjusted to a completely different culture, I'm sure Aisha is going to feel the same way when she goes to Africa. You should talk to her about it; let her know what she's going to feel."

"I think that's a good idea, Adam," Tanya agreed. She beamed at him and he smiled bashfully, lowering his head for a moment. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I—"

"Tanya!"

Adam and Tanya turned around to find Shawn shoving his way through the crowd of students towards them. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder and books tucked under his arm. Tanya immediately brightened, reaching up a hand to smooth down her hair. She let out a low breath and tried to steady her nerves. She hadn't expected to like Shawn so much, but apart from the other rangers he had been the one that made her feel the most excited about the day to day. "Hi Shawn," She greeted him, her voice lifting at the end as it typically did when she greeted him. "What's up?"

"What's up is this test we have at the end of the day," Shawn said, stepping up to Adam's side, completely ignoring the green Zeo ranger. "I'm having some trouble remembering everything that's needed and I know that you seem to get what's going on. So… I was wondering if you wanted to study with me."

"Me?" Tanya asked, eyes widening. She glanced over at Adam, who had an odd expression on his face. He looked unsure about himself, whether or not he should leave or stay beside her so they could finish their conversation. "You want to work with me?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well…I'm not doing a great job with it myself."

Shawn took a step towards the yellow Zeo ranger, effectively nudging Adam behind him. Tanya glanced over at her friend, who frowned but didn't say anything to defend himself. Shawn then moved into her line of sight and she felt herself starting to smile again. "Oh come on, Tanya. You're smart. I've seen that. If there's anyone that can help me with this, it's you. What do you say?" He flashed a charming smile. "Do you want to help me?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"Cool. I've got study hall right now, let's go set up and see what we can get done." He looped his arm through Tanya's and started off down the hall. Tanya scurried to keep up with him before turning to call out to Adam.

"I'll see you later," she said. "I'll see you all at lunch."

"O-okay," Adam called back, waving. "I'll see you later."

Tanya lengthened her stride and smiled up at Shawn as he continued to practically drag her to the library. When they arrived, he let go of her arm and walked over to an empty table, pulling out a chair for her. She sat down in it and started to turn to him so she could tank him once more and found that she was looking at no one. Her eyebrows furrowed seconds before she felt a hand tap her on her opposite shoulder and she turned around, jerking her head back when she found Shawn's face close to hers. She felt her cheeks flame, realizing how close their lips where before she moved out of the way.

She hadn't felt like that for anyone back when she was in Africa. There were many men in the village she thought were nice and potentially marriage worthy but Shawn was just so…just so good looking. As shallow as that was. But considering how the other girls talked about their boyfriends and the boys at school it must be something that Americans did a lot, realize the physical attributes of people she was attracted to as well as their personalities and how they connected.

Shawn chuckled to himself and sat down next to her, starting to flip through their math textbook until he found the chapter they were to be studying. "Okay," he said to her. "How good are you with Advanced Algebra?"

Tanya smiled and opened her own book. Thankfully for Shawn, she found that she was really good at math. It was English and History that were her problems. For the next hour or so Tanya and Shawn read the chapter two times, reading it for itself once, taking notes the second time, and then did a bunch of practice problems as they quizzed each other. In between the times they were working on problems and equations they talked about everything; their families, their friends, what they liked to do for fun, sports they were a part of. Shawn even got to his feet and showed off some of his martial arts not paying attention to the stares he received.

"Wow, that's pretty cool," Tanya said after clapping quietly. "I'm learning how to do some martial arts too," She said. "Adam's teaching me how." He took it upon himself to gently tell her that being a ranger meant they had to know how to defend themselves and while she had been doing a good job with their fights so far it wouldn't hurt to get better. Tanya had thought that Tommy or Jason would be the ones that would have taught her how to do it; she had seen them spar and in fights with the cogs and they were certainly very good. But maybe Adam had more patience with it.

"Adam?" Shawn repeated.

Tanya made a face at Shawn's blank expression. Silence stretched out between them and she tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to recognize the name. "You know Adam…I was just talking to him before we got here," she finally said.

"Oh! Adam, right. Yeah. He's one of the goody-goodies," Shawn said, nodding. Tanya's face screwed up even further and he raised his eyebrows innocently. "I don't mean anything by it, but he and the others that you hang out with are always doing something good. They're on every committee in this school, they volunteer at almost every opportunity they can get, they're on every team at this school, and they're teachers' pets and, and, and, and and…" he rolled his eyes. "I swear the entire world will collapse if they ever did anything bad."

Tanya frowned even harder. "I don't think that's fair. They're great people, Shawn; you just have to get to know them better. Yes, they do a lot of different things but they're working hard at all of them; they volunteer because they love this city, they're on sports teams because it's a requirement for school as far as I know"—she still wasn't sure how much of it actually meant to her considering she moved to Angel Grove in what would be considered a senior year—"They're my friends, I really like them."

"I really like _you_ ," Shawn pointed out. He reached out and grabbed onto Tanya's hand. "I know we haven't known each other long but I really do like you, Tanya."

She felt herself starting to relax. "I like you, too, Shawn."

"Good. Good, I was hoping you would." Shawn slowly smiled, looking her in the eye. Then he removed his hand from hers and leaned to the side, digging around through his bag. He pulled out a delicate glass bird hanging off of a chain. "I don't know if you like birds or anything, but I thought you would like this."

"Oh. Wow." Holding out her hand, Tanya nestled the glass in her palm as if she was holding onto a real baby bird. Turning it this way and that, the fluorescent lighting overhead caught the different sides of glass and shined them back in her face. She noticed as she continuously turned the glass that there were different shades of color spread within the bird as well, only noticed when it was turned a certain way. "This is amazing, Shawn. It must be so expensive."

She chewed her lower lip as soon as the word came out of her mouth. That was something she had to watch in America, something she had been warned about. Putting so much importance on price, but then again she hadn't expected some things to be so expensive while others were so cheap. She was surprised to find that fast food could give her a lot for only a little. And then she had driven a car for the first time, asking Adam on the way to the football game and she had fun with that. It was the most expensive vehicle she had ever driven herself.

But the necklace…it was a gift she never expected to receive.

It made her feel good.

"Do you like it?" Shawn insisted.

"I love it, thank you so much."

"I should be thanking you," Shawn said. He stood up and grasped the ends of the necklace and moved it behind her, draping it across her neck. The bird rested against her collarbone, slightly heavy but perfect all the same. "For agreeing to help me with this test. I know for sure I'm going to get a good grade." His voice lowered to a tone Tanya didn't quite recognize but didn't dwell on as he sat next to her again. "I should take you out to dinner or something to thank you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Tanya said quickly.

"No. I want to."

"Okay then."

Tanya smiled, trying to keep herself from giggling. She turned her attention back to her notebook and focused on that. For the rest of study hall she studied as hard as she could, trying to keep her mind from wandering to the boy that sat across from her When the bell rang, signaling it was time for lunch, she gathered her things together and shoved them into her backpack. They only had one other class together and that was when they were going to be taking their test, right after lunch and considering how Shawn went on and on about her friends she didn't think it was a good idea that Shawn sit with them.

"Thanks again," Shawn said before leaving the library without a backwards glance.

Tanya gathered her things and stopped at the bathroom before meeting up with their friends. She looked at herself in the mirror, admiring her reflection, the bird hanging around her neck. It was perfect, glistening gently against her skin tone. _Shawn's so sweet,_ she thought. _I can't believe he gave me something as beautiful as this._ She couldn't wait to show the girls. As she continued to look in the mirror she found herself starting to shake. _What?_ Looking down, she saw the sink start to fill with water, the pipes shaking.

The taps on the sink turned on, sending a blast of water out towards Tanya. She leapt out of the way and crouched against the floor, watching with wide eyes as a dark mass shot through the air. She watched it arch through the air before it landed, flipping back towards her. She watched the golden armored toad fixate its eyes on her before opening its mouth and wrapped around her, pressing her arms to her sides.

"Ah ha! I've finally got a ranger! King Mondo will be pleased!" The toad, Avaritia, crowed around his extended tongue. "I'll be sure to get all of his attention now."

Tanya kicked her legs back and forth, struggling to wiggle herself free. She grunted, feeling the stickiness of Avaritia's saliva move against her arms and press into her clothes. She had to break free. Finally, she managed to wiggle her arms upwards and clasped her hands together. Bringing her hands up over her head she let out a cry of effort as she brought her hands down and crashed them onto the tongue of the toad. Avaritia cried out in pain and retracted his tongue, backing away from Tanya.

"Hiya!" Tanya darted forward and shot her foot out, striking Avaritia in the face, then did a low judo sweep, knocking him in the stomach with her heel. Then she finished up with a strike to its face with the palm of her hand. It was sloppy but it did the trick. Avaritia leapt over towards the sinks and slid down the drain from where it came. "I've got to tell the others!"

Tanya hurried to the lunch room and, going through the line to get her tray, then hurried over to her friends. She placed it on the table and quickly sat down. "Guys, something just happened in the bathroom."

"Depending on what it is I don't think we want to hear it, mate," Avalon pointed out with a half smile.

"I don't know, it might be cool," Rocky said with a light shrug. Aisha, who sat by her side, curled her upper lip as she glanced at her boyfriend in disgust. Even Kat made a face towards him. "What? I was just kidding."

"Anyway, what's going on Tanya," Adam asked, turning towards her with the utmost concern.

Tanya lowered her voice so that no one else would hear them. "You know how we were saying that either Avalon, Adam, or I were the nest ones to be attacked by the Seven Deadly Sins monsters? Well, I was just targeted by a golden toad in the bathroom."

"Geez, the Machine Empire really doesn't know when to quit," Jason said. He shook his head. "They're working even harder than Rita and Zedd ever have. This guy really means business."

"You've got that right," Tommy agreed. He lifted his communicator to his mouth. "Zordon, Alpha, come in."

"Billy's here too," Alpha said. "What's going on, Tommy?"

"King Mondo attacked Tanya in the bathroom here at school. Adam and Avalon are the next ones to be targeted. Do you have any information on a golden toad?"

"Let me see what we have on our database," Billy said after a second. "Though with the process of elimination it shouldn't be difficult to decipher." There was a brief pause and as Tanya waited for the seconds to pass, she continuously rubbed her arms, trying to get the sticky feeling off of her. "I believe you've encountered Avaritia, the toad representing the sin of greed."

"Greed?" Rocky repeated. He eyed Tanya for a moment. "She doesn't have a greedy bone in her body. If anyone should have greed that should be me."

"Considering the fact that you can't keep your hands to yourself?" Avalon reached out and slapped her hand atop of Rocky's as it moved towards her tray filled with food. The blue Zeo Ranger managed to finish his own food in record time. "Yeah, mate, I think I can agree with that."

"Are you okay, though?" Adam asked, bringing the attention back over to the yellow Zeo Ranger. "You're not hurt?"

"No, Adam, I'm fine." Tanya brought her hand up to her new necklace and started to run her fingers along it. "I just didn't expect it to happen. I mean, I know you guys have had many stories of being attacked in school and everything, I just didn't expect it to happen."

"Well, let's just hope it doesn't get as bad as it has before," Billy's voice came from the communicator once more. "Tell you what, I'll keep an eye on the Machine Empire's movement as much as possible, see what I can dig up about the monsters and I'll let you guys know what I come up with. Alpha and Zordon may have more information that we already have."

"Thanks a lot, Billy," Tommy said. "We'll talk to you later."

"See ya."

Tanya continued to run her fingers over her necklace. This was getting even more out of hand than she originally thought. Being attacked at a football game was one thing, but in the middle of school was another. Especially because there was no one else around to witness it. Maybe they were being watched more than they originally thought; how else would they have known she was in the bathroom by herself?

"Well, there's nothing we can do but wait to get to the Power Chamber after school," Tommy decided. "As long as there aren't any other attacks we'll just have to wait." He turned his attention to his tray and inspected the sloppy joe that was on his plate before picking it up and taking a bite. Tanya gave a soft smile as Tommy let out a sigh. She knew he was trying his hardest not to have Kimberly's breakup get him down but it had to be hard. The two had been going out for a long time, they were really in love and knowing the only reason she came back was to break up with him had to be hard.

 _She's working hard to get better and that's all anyone could ask for,_ Tanya reminded herself. _Tommy'll be okay._ She wondered what she would do if she was in the same position, and then quickly figured it wasn't her. She wasn't someone that would want to harm herself like that, though she understood the nobility of deciding to work on herself so that she could get back to the one she loved.

"Hey Tanya, where'd you get that necklace?" Kat asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I don't think I saw you wearing t earlier today."

"It's really ace," Avalon added with an approving nod. "They've been selling really well over the past couple of years."

"How would you know that?" Jason asked her.

For a moment Avalon stiffened as her eyes shifted down to her lap. Then she straightened, pushing her hair over her shoulders and stuck her tongue out at him. "Just because I don't wear a lot of jewelry doesn't mean I don't know quality when I see it." She turned back to Tanya and nodded. "It's a really pretty necklace."

"Thanks, Shawn gave it to me," Tanya said.

"Shawn?" Adam repeated.

"Why'd he give you that?" Rocky's entire face screwed up in confusion. When Kat shushed him, his eyes grew wide and he did his best to remedy the insult he inadvertently sent her way. "I didn't mean it like that; I meant why would he give you the necklace if he hadn't known you that long?" He frowned when Aisha elbowed him in the side. "I guess that didn't really help much either. What I meant was—"

"Why don't you just quit while you're behind, Rocky," Tommy suggested.

He smiled sheepishly.

"It's alright, Rocky, I knew what you meant," Tanya said. She dropped her hands to her lap, squeezing her fingers together. "I was helping him study for our math test and he gave it to me as a way to thank me, I guess. _And_ he's going to take me out to dinner soon." She decided not to bring up the mean things he said about her friends. There was no point. "I don't know, I guess I'm excited."

"You _guess_?" Jason teased. "Looks to me that you can't stop smiling."

"Yeah…" Adam agreed. He turned his head to the side and studied he necklace. Then he straightened himself and smiled. "It looks like the studying has really paid off. Do you think you're ready for the test?"

"I guess we'll see once we take it."

"Where's Billy when you need him?" Aisha commented.

"Graduated," Tommy reminded her. "Sitting blissfully in the Power Chamber while we're still dealing with our school work." He paused for a moment, managing to smile a smile that lit up his eyes. The first real smile he managed within the last week. "Though I don't think I'd really call the Power Chamber blissful."

"Let's just hope that if they're going to attack again it's not when we're taking our test," Kat said.

The rangers laughed and changed the subject to what they would be doing that weekend. The lunch bell rang and they gathered their things and headed off to class where they would be taking their math class. Tanya felt a hand grab her arm as she started to enter the room and she turned to see Shawn at her side.

"Hey," She greeted him. "Do you think you're ready for the test?"

"More than ready," Shawn said. Tanya could hear a sense of confidence in his voice that she hadn't heard about an hour beforehand. "I'm going to ace this. I just wanted to be sure you were still wearing my necklace. I saw your friends admiring it. They must like it just as much as you do. I knew it was good."

"I love it. And my friends love it."

"Cool. I'll talk to you after class; we can make some plans for dinner." He reached out and gently tapped her chin. "If things go well, there'll be more where _that_ came from." He tapped her necklace then walked into the classroom before Tanya could tell him she didn't need more gifts from him and that the necklace was okay. But she didn't get the chance as the bell rang again and she hurried to her seat, dropping her backpack to the floor.

Ms. Appleby walked in and passed out the tests, letting them know how much time they had to take it, and went to her desk to leave them to it. Tanya took a deep breath and turned her sheet over. She glanced over the questions that were being asked then snuck a peek at Shawn to see how he was faring and frowned when she saw him leaning sideways in his seat, his left hand under his desk, holding onto a sheet of paper he periodically looked at before scribbling on his test.

Tanya gaped at him then slowly turned her attention back to her own test.

She didn't feel like smiling anymore.


	62. Glutton's  Punishment

**Chapter 62**

_Glutton's Punishment  
_

* * *

"Not that I'm not excited to be able to see the headquarters for your work, Captain Mitchell, but why is it that you needed to meet?" General Norquist asked as he crossed his leg at the knee. He rubbed his tired eyes. "So much so that you needed to get me on a red eye flight out here."

"I apologize for the inconvenience," Captain Mitchell said as he sat down across from him. He glanced over at Miss. Fairweather, who sat in a seat in the corner of the room with a notepad on her lap. She was to take notes on the meeting so that both men could use it later; if this was something that would continue the protection of Earth, they needed to be sure all of their bases were covered. "But I am grateful you came to meet me. I believe you're aware of the current threat that is coming through to Angel Grove."

A wry smile came to General Norquist's face at the words. "Yes, we're all very aware of what is going on. Once Rita and Zedd had left the city I'll admit I was under the impression Angel Grove would be left alone for a while. I guess we should all know that if the Power Rangers are in existence, there are to be extra terrestrial beings out there that are trying to eliminate them." His eyes shifted for a second. "At the moment we are keeping an eye on the Machine Empire, as they call themselves, and what it is they can do."

"We've heard through some similar contacts that they have been able to destroy planets and take over other galaxies in the past," Captain Mitchell added.

"You'd be correct."

"That is why we have called you over here." There was a brief pause as Captain Mitchell studied General Norquist. The man was getting up there in age, but he did seem to understand the scale of which the rangers were up against. Not only was that a big help to the rangers in Angel Grove, but it helped him as well. Captain Mitchell needed as much help he could get to finish his creation that could potentially save all of mankind in case there were more attacks on different countries and cities. "I believe you are the key in aiding me in a project I'm working on. To protect the rest of the Earth."

Eyebrows rising, General Norquist tried not to laugh out loud. He brought his hand up to cover his mouth, not wanting to be rude. "I apologize, but…to have something that you think will protect the Earth as a whole…that's a very tall order don't you think? Especially as we don't know if there any other factions that are coming in to work with the Machine Empire."

"These guys are all about trying to take over the Earth on their own terms," Captain Mitchell pointed out. "Especially considering it was the Machine Empire that ran off Rita and Zedd. If they were working together, they'd still be here."

"Yes, yes, I assume the humiliation was too much to bear. Especially as Zedd was considered the greatest threat once upon a time." General Norquist smoothed down his mustache before pushing his glasses up his nose. The glare that flickered off the lens gave him a sinister look for a moment but Captain Mitchell wasn't worried. This was the man that knew as much if not more than he did about the power rangers and everything they were facing. If there was anyone that would work together very well, it was then. "What is it that you want me to do, Captain?"

"I want you to be one of my leading team members on Project Lightspeed Rescue."

Billy knocked on his father's office door, pushing it open at the same time. David turned away from his computer and regarded his son with surprise. It wasn't every day Billy visited his father on campus. As a matter of fact the last time he had been there was years before when he was sick and his parents couldn't find a babysitter to watch him. He went to their classes, sitting in a chair in the front, watching as his parents spoke to classes filled with students and he tried to keep himself from throwing up.

He liked watching his Mom and Dad pass on knowledge to the future minds of America; especially with their topics in study. No matter how long it had been since he last was on campus Billy was surprised to find numerous professors and faculty greeting him as he walked the beautiful, winding campus to the science department. Either he hadn't changed that much of his parents spoke about him a lot.

"Billy, what are you doing here?" David got up from his seat and went over to his son, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. "I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to stay for breakfast his morning, I had a lot of work I needed to get done before my first class." He sighed, eyes scanning the room. "A lot to clean up…"

"I know. It's alright." Billy shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and gazed around the office. Books and papers crammed every available space on the bookshelf that lined the room. Different scientific and paleontological artifacts lined the window sills and shelves amongst the wall, framing the pictures that were hung up. Billy's eyes immediately went to the one that he, his father, and his mother had taken at the start of junior year, posing on the front porch.

Ever since he started kindergarten they took a picture every year. He realized he and his father hadn't taken one that year. He didn't mind that much. It wasn't that he had lost his mother, but his father had lost his wife, the woman he decided to spend the rest of his life with. She was still very much alive within the four walls of the office; her desk remained untouched, her name placard still sat on the door, as a matter of fact he could still, just barely, recognize the scent of the perfume she always wore.

Clearing his throat, Billy turned to his father and removed his hands from his pockets. "I don't mean to take up a lot of your time, I'm sure you have a class you need to be teaching soon. There was just something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh really?" David's eyebrows rose and as Billy watched him, an emotion he hadn't seen much of passed over his face. Apprehension. David even curled his fingers into the palms of his hands, rapping his knuckles against the table top. "What's going on?" He motioned for Billy to sit down in the seat normally reserved for students that came by for office hours or were being advised by him. "Is everything okay at home?"

"Everything's fine," Billy reassured him. "Av and Bay already left for school. There haven't been any attacks by the cogs as far as I know." He lifted his wrist to show off his communicator to prove it. "But that is something I wanted to talk about. You know the Azurite Healiodore?"

"Of course," David replied. "Not only was it something that came up more than once in my studies, but if I recall correctly you and the rest of the rangers ended up using it."

"Right; it was something that aided us a lot," Billy agreed. "Not only did it give us elemental powers for while, but it was also what aided us in being able to eventually morph with the power of the ninjetti." Billy smiled a little as his inner wolf let out a happy growl. It seemed that his animal spirit was pleased with being known to the father of his ward. "I'm curious to know if you know if there's anything else like that out there we could use right now."

"I assume you're having trouble with the Machine Empire."

"Not trouble exactly, but that there are more monsters we're facing that we're not sure how bad it'll get." David raised an eyebrow and Billy briefly wondered if he managed to shift back into his 'scientific psycho-babble' as Zack teasingly called it. "There's the Machine Empire that we already know; King Mondo, Queen Machina, Orbus, Klank, Prince Sprocket, Prince Gasket, and Archerina. They're already formidable as it is, especially considering the others are still just getting used to their new Zeo powers as they grow stronger as long as the Zeo Crystals are with them."

"So what's the issue?"

"The issue is that I'm not sure they're even strong enough to defeat these new monsters that are attacking," Billy said. "Those that are representing the Seven Deadly Sins are obviously attacking the rangers."

"But there's only six rangers," David pointed out.

"Yeah, that's something we're not quite entirely sure of as well," Billy said slowly. "Who the target of the last monster is going to be. Other than that, I've been working on the zords like crazy while trying to figure this thing out and…I thought maybe you could help."

David laughed lightly, shaking his head. "I'm not entirely sure what I can do to help but I'll do whatever it is that you need." He thought for a moment. "Actually, I might be able to help you. There's this guy I know that I've spoken to a lot whenever conferences come up. Very smart. He works with a program that deals with space travel; in fact he's the one that oversaw a project that sent the guys up to the moon who opened the space dumpster."

"I'm sure that was something he isn't going to let them forget any time soon," Billy remarked.

"Oh, definitely not," David agreed. He couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "I'm sure that was something he was going to make sure didn't happen ever again." He scratched his forehead. "Let me give him a call, I'm sure he'd like to talk to you." Billy's eyes widened and David held up a hand. "I'm not going to mention the secret that you guys are all keeping. Just that you're interested to know if there is a way to stop these monsters. He has been following everything Rita and Zedd and the power rangers have been throwing out so he's a resource you should probably get in touch with."

 _Can we really talk to someone that we can't tell our secret to?_ Billy wondered. _If he's working with those that had released Rita, then he probably knows a lot more about being a power ranger than we already do…_ Leaning forward, Billy rested his chin in his upraised hands. There were so many people that already knew what they were—mostly of Avalon's fault by his count—though he was surprised to find that their parents all knew they were rangers. He thought they all kept it a good secret, but there was something about parents that always knew what their kids were up to. _If this is someone Dad's suggesting, then maybe it's someone that can truly help us. One meeting wont' hurt._

"That sounds like a good idea, Dad," Billy finally agreed. "Thanks for the help."

"You're very welcome, Billy," David said. He smiled warmly at him before taking in a deep breath. "You know, I actually thought you came down here to talk about something else." Billy tilted his head to the side, eyebrows furrowing together. "To talk about moving out."

"Moving out?" Billy blinked rapidly as he tried to come to terms to what his father had just said. "I…I guess I haven't really thought about it." He shrugged. "The thought has certainly crossed my mind but I didn't inject a lot of realism into it. I've only just graduated, I wasn't sure if it was the right time…" He trailed off. That was the point wasn't it? Once you graduated you were supposed to move out, have a life of their own, and then go off to college. He had started to think about the idea of applying to colleges but wasn't taking it so seriously. He only just left school and was spending most of his time in the Power Chamber as it was. "I mean, unless you're deciding for me that it's time for me to leave."

"I'm not saying that at all." David's sincerity took Billy aback for a second. "It's going to be something that you have to decide for yourself when you want to leave." He bobbed his head back and forth. "As it is I'm sort of used to you all not being around. You're in the Power Chamber, Avalon and Bailey are going back and forth from the Oliver's…" he sighed heavily. "I guess at this point I'm realizing I'll have an empty nest sooner than I anticipated."

"I'm not going anywhere, Dad, not yet," Billy said. "There's too much we have to do right now. But I promise you'll be the first to know if I ever do decide to move." David nodded. Billy cleared his throat and looked at his watch before standing up. "Actually, I have to go to the Power Chamber. I have some adjustments on the zords and some of the power weapons that need to be done before the next fight. I'll see you later, Dad."

David stood up as well as the two hugged. Billy rested his chin on his father's shoulder, allowing himself to be squeezed tight. Billy then took a step back and smiled at his father before leaving the office. He walked back along the campus, taking in the leaves on the trees that suddenly appeared much brighter than they had been when he first arrived on campus.

As the gentle wind blew, tousling his blond hair he was suddenly enveloped with a strong flowery scent. But instead of it making him feel better, he couldn't help but feel annoyed, frustrated, and that he wanted to get away from it as quickly as possible.

###

Jason was so engrossed in the book he picked up off the shelf that it took him a few moments before he realized that he wasn't alone in the aisle as he had been for the past few minutes. Lifting his head, he looked over at the blonde that stood at the end of the aisle, aimlessly gazing along the books that were lining each side of the section. Every now and then she tilted her head back and forth, as if trying to give off the impression she was looking for something.

Jason looked down at his book once more but found himself lifting his gaze to the girl again as she suddenly stopped nearby him. She abruptly turned towards the bookshelf in front of her and picked up a massive book, burying her face in it. On a hunch, Jason lifted his chin far enough so that it appeared he was still looking through his own book and scanned the bookstore. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but the way she continued to peek up over the shelf told him otherwise. Taking a few steps backwards, Jason edged towards the end of the aisle, continuing to hold his book up towards his face. Once he reached the end he shuffled around the corner and hissed loudly.

Avalon, who was kneeling by a box of unpacked books jumped and brought a hand to her forehead before turning to face him. "Do you _always_ have to do that?" She asked in a low hiss. "Either you're stalking me or your life is seriously uninteresting."

"Or your nerves are completely shot," Jason pointed out. "There's that option, too." He gave her a half smile before nodding back towards the aisle he had just been in. "Anyway, you see that girl over there?"

"Are you stalking her too?"

"Would you just look?"

Sighing, Avalon stood up, brushing off the legs of her jeans and adjusting the black polo shirt she had to wear for her job at the bookstore and peered into the aisle. She made a face, bunching her right cheek up towards her eye when she caught site of the young blonde teen. "I see a girl who is reading. What about it?" She turned back to Jason, who closed his book with a loud thump.

"There's something going on," he said. He could feel it in his gut. She was up to something. Or something bad was going to happen. Something about being a ranger—or maybe it was his years of training with martial arts—had given him good intuition about that sort of thing. Even when he had been beaten up by the High Flyers a few years back he had a bad feeling before it happened. "I don't know what it is, but there is."

"Or you're starting to become paranoid, Rudolph." Avalon bent down and grabbed the box of books and balanced them in her arms. She looked around before lowering her voice. "I get that you were fighting the putties for so long and now cogs are starting to pop up everywhere, yeah, like daisies. But not everyone in the world is evil." She paused and looked at him curiously. "Why? Do you think she's going to rob the place or something?"

"Be honest, when you were in the Vipers did you ever think of robbing this store?"

"In broad daylight?" Avalon snorted and started to walk away from the aisle. "You'd have to be a complete hoon to do it in broad daylight." Shaking her head she walked up to another shelf and started to stack books atop the ones already there. She paused and started to smile slowly. "Unless you fancy her," she said.

Jason blinked rapidly, taking a few seconds to realize what she meant, and let out a low chuckle. Holding his book at his side and leaned against the shelf next to him. "I don't even know her. I don't even know her name."

"Well there's no time like the present, mate. And take it from me, it's not a good idea to keep things like that inside and have them burst out later. You might get rejected." She gave him a knowing smile before going to the front desk to check out a customer that came to the buy a few books as well as a bookmark.

Jason let out a low sigh under his breath and pushed himself upwards. He turned towards the direction the girl was before then frowned when he noticed she wasn't where she had been before. Frowning, Jason started to twist back and forth, looking for the girl. He replaced his book on the shelf next to him and started to speed walk through the aisles, raising his head and leaning over to peer around corners to find her. Finally, he came to the front of the store and turned around, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline when she walked right into him.

Her head was ducked down and she moved at such a quick pace, obviously not expecting him or anyone to be in her way. She walked into him hard enough that she stumbled backwards; dropping the book she was trying to hide under her jacket. Her head flew up and Jason was suddenly captivated by her blue eyes and the deep red lipstick that covered her lips. Then her eyes narrowed and she quickly moved to grab her book. "Why don't you watch where you're going?!"

It was then he recognized her. Eyes narrowing slightly, Jason pointed at her. "You're the girl from the Youth Center."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And you're the one that managed to knock me over when you were…fighting that guy or whatever."

"We call it sparring," Jason corrected her. "And that was my friend Tommy."

"Good for you." She started to step beside him but he held out his arm, blocking her way. She sighed and took a step back, glaring up at him. "So are you security for this place, too? Or are your big arms just for show?"

"You're trying to steal that book and you're making fun of the fact that I like to keep in shape?" Jason thought for a moment and stepped to the side, waving his arm in a grand gesture. "Go ahead, then. Though I can't guarantee that someone else hasn't already taken note of the conversation we're having and has called actual security to come get you." The girl huffed, her shoulders dropping when she realized she was caught. "I'm Jason," he finally said, holding out his hand.

"Emily." She reached up and gave him a firm handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Emily."

Emily finally smiled a little. She glanced at the book in her hand and placed it on a nearby table. "You know I really didn't want to take it," She said. "It was sort of a dare." She shook her head. "A stupid dare to get in with this stupid group." Emily looked up at Jason once more, her eyes softening. "I just moved here and became friends with this guy—"

"Oh, it has to do with a guy," Jason said. He nodded. "That makes sense. It always has to do with a guy." He laughed lightly and ran a hand through is hair, slightly annoyed. Then upon realizing it he was annoyed at being annoyed. "But if this guy is making you do something that makes you feel uncomfortable—"

"Who said I was uncomfortable?" The teasing lift to Emily's voice caught his attention and she smirked at him. "Bye, Jason." She stepped around him and walked out of the bookstore. Jason watched her leave, half hoping she would turn around but knowing she wouldn't. And he continued to watch her as she walked over to a guy that sat on a motorcycle, arms crossed. They conversed for a few moments with the guy appearing more and more annoyed as the seconds passed. Finally he reached behind him and took a helmet, shoving it at her and started up the bike.

Emily took it all in stride and buckled the strap of the helmet under her neck then climbed onto the back of the bike. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and the motorcycle raced out of the parking lot, nearly sideswiping a car as it went.

"I told you, you fancy her."

Jumping, Jason turned around to find Avalon standing next to him, having finished up with the customer. "Are _you_ stalking _me_ now?"

"No." Avalon crossed her arms and smiled mischievously. "I'm just nosey."

"I noticed," Jason deadpanned. "So what are you doing after your shift?"

"Billy's picking me up and we're going out on a date. Are you feeling lonely already?" She faked a gasp, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. "Are you smitten? Do you think she's _the one_? Or, I reckon, the one that got away?"

"You're enjoying this way too much."

The two were interrupted as their communicators went off. Avalon made a face before grabbing Jason's arm and dragging him to a back corner of the store. Once they were alone, Jason lifted the communicator to his mouth. "What's going on, Zordon?" He asked.

"There's another attack by the Machine Empire," Zordon replied. "The last of the Seven Deadly Sins monsters has made its appearance and cogs are attacking as well. We need all of the rangers there to take them down."

"If we can get a handle on this monster, we'll have an idea of what the other seven deadly sins monsters can do as well," Alpha added. "We need you here at the Power Chamber."

"You got it," Jason said.

He looked around for a moment to be sure the coast was clear before they teleported to the Power Chamber where the rest of their friends were already waiting for them. Once they arrived, Tommy immediately filled them in on what was going on.

"Looks like King Mondo has gotten a jump on what Rita and Zedd have done," he said and nodded to the viewing globe where a massive, armor plated pig was wreaking havoc. At its feet cogs were breaking store windows and chasing off Angel Grove residents. "This one was sent down already in its larger form, so we're going to have to call in the zords right away."

"I've gotten some work done on them today," Billy said, wiping grease off his stained hands with a towel. "Not as much as I would've liked but enough so that you should notice a difference in how they handle. Their efficiency should be increased by about 50%."

"Sounds great Billy," Jason said, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks." He paused and looked around the group. "Wait a minute, where's Aisha?"

"She couldn't get away from her parents," Tanya explained.

"They're working out her plans to go to Africa," Rocky added glumly. He cleared his throat and lifted his head, eyes filled with renewed vigor. "What are we going to do about this monster thought?" Rocky asked, crossing his arms. "Every other time we've tried to take them down they've managed to overpower us. Not to mention we're not exactly sure what it is these guys can do. But they get their strength from somewhere."

"At this point it's probably a good idea to do what Zordon had suggested before," Jason said. "Trap it and see if we can get any idea of what it is that's fueling them."

"Yeah, something tells me that they're not entirely made from metal as with the rest of the Machine Empire," Kat agreed. "And if that's the case, maybe the Machine Empire is working with someone else."

"I don't think they are," Bailey shook her head, exchanging a glance with Fred. "No, I reckon he's working by himself."

'Yeah, if they were working with anyone else, they partnership would've been shown already," Fred agreed.

"Whatever it is, we're not going to know just by standing here," Avalon pointed out. "Those guys are destroying a lot of the city and if that's the monster's 'make my bloody monster grow form'," she used air quotes around the words, "and then we've got bigger problems to deal with, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tommy said. He thought a moment before snapping his fingers. "You guys keep an eye out here; see if there are any readings or anything you can get from this guy. Considering it's the last monster I'm assuming it represents the sin of gluttony. And if that means what I think it means, then we're definitely going to have to be careful."

"Hey, as long as it's not like the Pudgy Pig, I think we'll be okay," Billy said.

"Do not make the mistake of underestimating this monster," Zordon reminded the rangers. "There may be a chance the Machine Empire is doing the same for you. To watch and see the best way to take you down. Please take heed and do what you can to minimize the damage of this."

"Don't worry, Zordon," Tommy said. "We got this. Are you guys ready?"

"Ready!"

"It's morphin' time!"

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger, V, Red!"

"Zeo Ranger, VI, Orange!"

###

Adam gripped the controls of his bull zord and grinned as they felt comfortable under his hands. This was only the third time he had to use the zord and it was just like second nature to him. And it was probably the first time they were able to fight a monster without having needed to actually bring the zords together. No. This time around they needed to get a handle on the monster. Sighing heavily, Adam tried to focus on piloting his zord out onto the battle field. The last time he allowed himself to get too into his thoughts he imagined Scorpina poisoning him.

 _Scorpina's not going to be around this time, she's gone with Rito and Goldar. She's not here. So you need to pay attention._ Adam shook his head and pulled his zord in line with the others as they raced towards the scene in Angel Grove.

"Zeo Zord I is ready to go," Kat said.

"Zeo Zord II, ready to shine," Tanya added.

"Zeo Zord III, ready," Rocky said.

"Zoe Zord, IV, ready," Adam said.

"Zeo Zord, V, ready," Tommy added. There was a brief pause and Tommy continued with, "Av is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just had to adjust the seat of my zord. My feet weren't reaching the pedals," Avalon replied in a gruff voice. Finally she sighed and then said, "Zeo Zord, VI, ready!"

"Alright. Let's see what these things can do!" Tommy piloted his zord down above Gula as the monstrous pig knocked down a street light and devoured it with a few gulps, sending sparks of lightning across the street. Tommy pulled his zord upwards and the beak of his phoenix zord opened and blasts of fire shot out. Gula squealed in pain and whipped around.

"Oh, rangers! Finally!" Gula scraped his hoof across the ground. "It's about time you showed up! I've been waiting for my chance to see what that rainbow colored spandex tastes like. And you're delivering yourself right to me."

"We'll just see about that," Rocky said. He and Adam charged their zords forward, dragging Kat's and Tanya's along behind them. "Let's rock and roll!" He cheered.

Adam smiled, Rocky's excitement infectious. He charged the Taurus zord forward and pushed the control stick forward in a hard push. "Firing!" He pressed his thumbs into the buttons atop them. Lightning shot out from the horns on his Taurus zord and shot towards Gula. He laughed and opened his mouth, shooting lightning back at the zord, hitting Adam hard.

"Whoa!" Adam cried out, his zord rocking back and forth. He felt his zord lift off its feet and fly through the air. A grunt escaped his lips as his zord finally hit the ground once more. "Well, I certainly didn't see that coming."

"And I bet you didn't see this coming either!" Gula opened his mouth once more and four tires came rushing out of its mouth and zoomed towards the rangers.

"Look out!" Kat cried. She fired the canon atop her zord, the laser beam shooting out and crashing into one of the tires that raced for her, immediately blowing it up. "Yes!"

"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Tanya said. She used her zord to shootout the missiles off the sides and they shot forward and blasted another tire out of the way. Avalon lumbered her panda zord up to Gula and lowered its head, knocking a tire up into the air. She then lifted the zord onto its hind legs and used its front paw to slash the tire in one sweep.

"Heads up!" Rocky called. He ran the Sphinx zord forward and used a tri-fold of lasers from its eyes and forehead, causing the last tire to implode.

Adam straightened his zord and brought it together with his friends. "Looks to me like this guy is taking the sin of Gluttony a little too seriously."

"Adam's right," Billy's voice said through the speakers within their cockpits. "This monster takes whatever it eats and can use it as a weapon back against you guys. God knows what the other monsters can do. In many ways it is like the Pudgy Pig but it's different, too."

"Yeah, when we get back, you're going to have to explain the story about the Pudgy Pig," Tanya said with an air of amusement in her voice.

"I agree," Kat said. "If there was a monster like a Pudgy Pig, I'd hate to think of the others that you've all come across."

"Let's take care of this one, first," Tommy said. He circled his phoenix zord around the monster once more. "This little piggy went to market…" He shot another blast of fire towards the pig. "And this little piggy cried all the way home!" He cheered as the blast gave a direct hit, causing Gula to squeal loudly, running in circles. "Alright, let's get in close to see what this guy is about."

"Out of my way!" Gula charged through the rangers, knocking them out of the way like pin balls and charged directly to Adam's zord. He watched stunned at the speed the pig exhibited and crashed directly into him. "Aha! The one I was looking for."

"Wha…?" Adam barely got the words out of his mouth before h found himself eye to eye with Gula. He tried to look away, doing his best to blink. But he found himself stuck, every nerve in his body screaming for him to look away. But he found himself stuck.

"Adam!" Jason commanded. "You have to move away from him or else he might start eating the zord."

'Guys, get in there quick!" Fred added. "We don't know what he's capable of."

"Don't worry buddy, I got you," Rocky said. He turned the Sphinx zord around and pressed hard on the throttle, sending the Sphinx zord racing forward. It crashed into Gula, knocking it away from the Taurus zord. Adam blinked, gasping loudly as he suddenly found himself in control of his body once more. "You okay, Ad?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Rocky."

"I'll be back, rangers! Count on it!" With that, Gula and the cogs teleported back to the Machine Empire.

Adam brought his hand to the front of his helmet and shook his head. He felt so weird, his head swimming. Otherwise he felt fine, once Gula's eye contact broke with him he was back to controlling himself. It was so strange; he could still breathe when Gula was looking at him, he could wiggle his fingers and toes, but he couldn't actually move. He had been completely paralyzed. Maybe that's what the others felt. But he wondered if they felt the same feeling of being under appreciated, like he had nothing to give to the team.

"Rangers, come back to the Power Chamber at once," Zordon said.

"You got it Zordon, we're on our way."

The rangers went back to their headquarters with Billy immediately going off to fix the damages placed upon the zords. Adam ran a hand through his hair as he followed behind his friends, still trying to push the feeling away.

"Are you sure you're okay, Adam?" Rocky asked, coming up to his side and rested his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Adam smiled, dropping his hand away from his forehead. He couldn't worry anyone, especially if everyone else had gone through the same thing. "I just…I had no idea how strong these monsters were going to be."

"Yeah, I don't think any of us did," Tommy said, resting his hands on his hips. He sighed heavily and turned back to Zordon. "What are we supposed to do? All of these monsters have targeted us and we don't know the sorts of things they can do. But they've said that we hold the key to their power."

"Unfortunately we don't have the answer to those questions," Zordon said. "Rangers, don't doubt yourselves. There are tough times ahead for all of you. We've gone through changes of team mates and some of the toughest enemies that you've ever faced. But where they come from there are always others. You need to continue to stand together and work as a team .Trust in yourselves and your abilities, your friendship and your strength in each other and nothing will stand in your way."

"Thanks, Zordon," Kat said graciously.

"Yeah, we really needed to hear that," Bailey added.

"You're very welcome, rangers," Zordon said.

"We're behind you all the way," Alpha added.

Adam exchanged glances, smiling along with his friends as their mentor bestowed the words of encouragement upon them. He had to keep smiling.


	63. Hard To Say Goodbye

**Chapter 63**

_Hard To Say Goodbye_

* * *

Aisha sighed as she looked over the clothes that sat in front of her. She couldn't believe it had come so soon, the time for her to leave. She thought she would at least have been able to make it all the way to Christmas before it was time for her exchange. But she had gotten the news in the mail, Ms. Appleby and Mr. Kaplan had personally called to congratulate her, saying they would miss her as well. It was official.

She was leaving.

But how was she supposed to leave Angel Grove? The city that had become a second home to her. She rarely had enough time to go visit Stone Canyon ever since she left and the thought alone made her feel more guilt that ever. But now that she would be going halfway around the world, when was she going to be able to go back to Angel Grove? Was she going to lift her communicator and ask Zordon and Alpha to teleport her back every time she missed her friends? Now she knew how Jason, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly all felt when they left their teams. It was exciting, they had big things to do but at the same time it had become so much of their lives it would be hard for it to end.

But this was Africa, the one place she always wanted to see.

"Aisha, are you okay, sweetie?" Mr. Campbell asked, poking his head into his daughter's room. "You've been in here for quite a while." He looked around at the state of disarray in her room and chuckled. "And it doesn't look like you've gotten a lot of work done."

"I haven't," Aisha said honestly. She leaned back, rubbing her hands over her face. "I don't want to go," she mumbled.

Mr. Campbell let out a low sigh and walked over his daughter. He sat down on the floor next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I know it'll be hard to leave but I don't think you're afraid of leaving Angel Grove. I think you're afraid of leaving your friends. Specifically Rocky and Adam. You three have been as thick as thieves as long as I can remember." He gave her a knowing look. "And I've always thought there was something going on…"

"Yeah, well, me and Rocky and have been friends for a while," Aisha admitted. She couldn't help but blush, her dark cheeks burning. "I guess it was just a matter of time before we started to go out or whatever. I don't really know what we are."

"Rocky?" Mr. Campbell feigned surprise. "I was talking about Adam."

Aisha reached out and lightly elbowed her father in the side. She leaned her head against his shoulder and took in his scent of Old Spice deodorant. She was going to miss that too, being able to spend so much time with her parents. But they would take good care of Tanya while she was in Angel Grove just as Tanya's parents were going to take good care of her.

"I'm going to miss you, sweetie," Mr. Campbell said, as if reading her mind. Aisha always loved that about him. She was certainly very much a Daddy's girl. Somehow whatever problem she had, he was always there to figure out what it was and help her out before she even knew what happened. When she was being bullied back in elementary school at Stone Canyon, he figured it out and spoke to the parents and it was stopped. She looked up to him in more ways than that he was a wonderful person, her mother too. He was a doctor and her mother a lawyer and she wanted nothing more than to be even half of what they were. Maybe going to Africa was going to do that.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Dad," Aisha said, wrapping her arms around her father and hugging him tightly. She could feel him shaking under her and knew he was struggling to hold it together as much as she was. She was his only child and it would be incredibly hard to not see him for a long time. "I'm going to miss you and Mom so much." Aisha leaned back and looked up at him, tapping a finger to her chin. "But I'm _really_ going to miss your home cooking. Do you think for the first couple of days…"

"Your mother and I will have Tupperwear ready for you for when you leave," Mr. Campbell said. "I know this is such short notice, sweetie, but you have to make the best of the situation."

"I know." Aisha swallowed hard. "I know. I will."

Mr. Campbell smiled and kissed the side of the former ranger's head and got up, leaving the room. Again, Aisha sighed heavily. _Why did this have to happen now? When the rangers are having so many problems with the Seven Deadly Sins monsters?_ She felt so badly about having had missed their last fight, where Adam apparently had been the latest victim to the seven deadly sins monsters. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to help in the Power Chamber, working with the control panels and all of Zordon's and alpha's technology wasn't anything she had become accustomed to rather than being on the battle field.

"Hey." Aisha looked up as Tanya walked into the room and sat down in front of her predecessor. "How's it going?" She looked around the room but didn't say anything. Instead she smiled at Aisha, her full lips spreading.

"It's going," Aisha said honestly. She reached out her arms and wrapped them around her legs. "Was it hard for you to leave your home to come here?"

Tanya thought for a moment, stretching out her legs and resting her hands behind her. "It was," she finally said. 'But not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I expected to fall all over my Mom and Dad and crying hysterically. Yes, I cried on the plane, but I didn't cry as hard as I thought I would. It has always been my dream to see the rest of the world. And to be able to do it and get an American education? That was the icing on top of the cake."

Aisha smiled, resting her chin in her hands. "I'm glad you've enjoyed your time here. I hope I'll love Africa as much."

"Oh, but you will," Tanya insisted. She reached out her hands and grabbed onto Aisha's, holding them firmly. "There's an entire world out there for you to explore. I know you're figuring out why this is all happening now but everything happens for a reason. You were told about the exchange program for a reason, you were chosen for a reason, you're going to Africa for a reason. You're just not able to see it now. You have to remember that life is a journey, not a race. It's not supposed to pass you by, it's supposed to be experienced."

Aisha nodded as she gazed at Tanya. For a girl that had been taken from one culture to another, she was adjusting well. Not just that but Tanya was wiser than anyone she knew whether it be from her experiences of not having as much or due to being a Power Ranger. Aisha had never seen a frown on the girls' face other than when doing her ranger duties or focusing hard on the martial arts that Tommy and Adam were starting to teach her. Sure, Tanya could be a bit naïve as she learned about the American culture, but she wasn't one to be deterred by anything that came her way. Aisha still giggled at Adam's recounting of how he allowed Tanya to drive her car to the football game.

Aisha smiled and grasped Tanya's hands in hers, squeezing them just as firmly. "If I had to choose anyone else to take my place as a ranger, they wouldn't come close to you, Tanya. I'm glad to be able to leave the powers of the Yellow Ranger in your hands."

"Thank you, Aisha."

Aisha smiled and leaned forward, giving her a warm hug. Tanya hugged her back just as tightly, and then surveyed the room once more. "How about I help you pack and while we do that, I'll tell you everything about my village?"

"That sounds like a plan."

* * *

Rocky shook his head as he watched his father and mother in the kitchen, preparing food for him and his siblings. He wanted to be anywhere else, he wanted to be over at Aisha's house, but his mother had made sure they would spend the day together like a family. Every time the thought crossed his mind, he rolled his eyes. His father wasn't a father, his mother wasn't acting like his mother, and his family was divided on where they stood on Daniel's return.

But they were still required to act like they were a family. Maybe the embarrassment was too much to bear. When the blue ranger let out another sigh, Isabella turned towards him with an annoyed glance. "Knock it off, Rocky, you're sucking up all the air."

"Sorry," he apologized, lowering his feet to the floor. But he didn't feel sorry. Not for what he said, but sorry for himself. He was taking his anger of Aisha's leaving out on his father. He knew that. But how else was he supposed to feel when the news was sprung on him and his friends that she was leaving? They knew it was going to happen, but this soon?

"I didn't know," Aisha said through tears over the phone the night before. "I didn't know I was going to be leaving so soon. If I had…"

Rocky swallowed heavily as he held onto the phone. He tried to keep his words steady but found he was losing it quickly. Not just leaving his girlfriend—if she even was that—but losing of his best friends as well. She was by his side through everything, especially the move from Stone Canyon to Angel Grove. "If you had?" He prompted.

"I don't know. I might have planned better. I might have shown my appreciation for you guys even more. I might have worked harder as a ranger. I might have told you how I felt sooner." Rocky smiled as he heard the words come from her mouth.

It had been a secret he tried to keep as long as he could, how he felt. He, Adam, and Aisha were the Three Musketeers and he didn't want to ruin that by dating her and potentially breaking up and not being friends anymore. Ever since middle school Adam had continually tried to encourage him to say something to their African-American friend. But he couldn't. So he sat back and watched as she grew crushes on other guys, some she went out with, some she didn't. But it still hurt all the same, especially as he was the one that was there as a shoulder to cry on when the time came or for a word of encouragement. When they finally kissed he felt everything had fallen into place, enough so that he pushed the reality of her moving out of his head.

Now it was back and had punched him right in the stomach and face.

"If _I_ knew I might have told you how I felt sooner," Rocky added. "I spent enough time trying to avoid it."

"Me too."

"No, you didn't!"

Aisha laughed at his quick response. "What do you mean? You think I didn't like you back then? I only went out with those other guys because I was waiting for you to ask me out. But you never did. Adam kept trying to get me to tell you."

"He tried to get me to tell you, too." Rocky chuckled. "I guess he's good for something after all."

"Boy, you know Adam is your friend. Don't diss him like that."

And the two continued to laugh, changing the subject to something else other than the elephant in the room. Then they had brought Adam in on the call and they reminisced about the things they had gone through in Stone Canyon. From the time Aisha got stage fright in the middle of her dance performance for a talent show and Rocky and Adam leapt on stage to help her out, to the time they grilled Adam for days on end for the Spelling Bee where he ended up coming in second place and Rocky and Aisha slept in for a few days, to the time Aisha and Adam helped Rocky babysit his brothers and sisters for an entire weekend when his mother had to pull double shifts back to back.

Now here he was, sitting on the couch, watching as Antonio and Maria played a strange game on the floor while he waited for the family brunch after church. He didn't speak about it much, but Rocky certainly was a religious person, he prayed every night before he went to bed and every time he needed help and guidance through difficulties. What was he supposed to do in this situation? Pray he held Aisha back from an opportunity that meant the world to her? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Isabella gave her big brother a look of concern and moved across the couch so that she was sitting directly next to him. Reaching out her hand, she grasped Rocky's and placed it in her lap. "Look, I know you're going to miss, Aisha, but you shouldn't wallow in self pity about it."

"Who's wallowing?" He asked defiantly.

Isabella gave him a knowing look. "You haven't eaten anything since last night. And we all know you make multiple trips to the kitchen for a midnight snack."

The blue ranger felt his cheeks start to burn. "Only when we have something good to eat," he defended himself.

"You think everything is good to eat, Rocky, don't deny it." She leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder. "You know what you should think about? You should become a food critic. It'd be a good way for you to eat your feelings," She teased. Rocky rolled his eyes and gently lifted his shoulder to nudge her away. She continued to hold her head on his shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, Rocky."

Rocky nodded. He looked over at his parents as they continued to work on their meal together. He watched as they laughed and kidded with each other, suddenly struck by how little his mother had smiled in comparison over the last few years. Instead of addressing it, he turned his attention to his sister. "So when did you get to be so smart?" His eyes narrowed. "Do _you_ have a boyfriend?"

"No!" Isabella declared. She immediately started to blush as Rocky continued to stare at her. "I don't have a boyfriend, I promise."

"But there's someone you like," Rocky insisted.

"No, there's no one."

"Right." Rocky turned his attention to Diego, who came down the stairs, having changed from his church clothes. "Diego, buddy. Who does Isabella like?" Diego stopped in his tracks, looking back and forth from his older brother and his younger sister. Then he started to smile. "She does like someone, doesn't she?"

"Diego, be quiet!" Isabella declared.

"Diego, tell me!" Rocky insisted.

Antonio and Maria, how noticed their older siblings starting to playfully bicker, got up from the floor and crowded around them, chanting 'fight, fight, fight' over and over. With that, Rocky reached out and grabbed Diego around his waist and pulled him onto the couch. Diego yelled out and tried to pull himself out of Rocky's grasp when he and Isabella started to tickle him. Antonio and Maria leaned in over their brother and started to tickle him as well. The laughter and giggles of the five siblings caught their parents' attention and they came over to see what was going on.

Rosa smiled warmly, folding her arms as she watched them. Daniel grabbed a nearby camera and quickly took a picture of his children. The flash went off, nearly blinding Rocky and he brought up his hands, rubbing the stars away. He scowled at his father and lifted Diego up off his lap so he had room to stretch.

"We should take a family photo," Daniel suggested. "We haven't done one in a long time."

"That's a great idea," Rosa quickly agreed. "It'll be a great way to solidify being together again." She focused her gaze on Rocky, as if daring him to say something but he kept his mouth shut. He was tired of arguing with her about it. Satisfied at Rocky's silence, she clasped her hands together. "Lunch is ready. Please go wash your hands and we can start eating."

"Alright, let's go." Rocky stood up and swung Maria into his arms, ushering his siblings to the tiny bathroom. He placed Maria on the ground and she and Antonio went first, squeezing around the sink, which they almost couldn't reach, and washed their hands. Rocky pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and leaned against the door frame, watching them to be sure they washed properly.

There had been many times he found the two of them with their hands all over food after only having wiped them on the sides of their pants. The hand prints it left behind still made him a bit queasy. It took him a few moments before he realized Diego's head tilted to the side as he stared at him.

"What?" Rocky asked him.

"What happened to your arm?"

As soon as the words came out of Diego's mouth, Rocky's eyes widened. He looked down, suddenly remembering the scars that lined the inside of his wrist. A lot of them were old and a few of them were fairly new, still pink and starting to scab over. They lined up his arms to the crook of his krelbow in a systematic line. As Isabella, Maria, and Antonio turned their attention to him, he brought down the sleeve of his shirt once more.

He had completely forgotten about it. It was easier to hide around his friends and when he was going to school because his mother's work schedule and getting the younger kids ready for school was enough time for him to raid her makeup and cover it when he wore short sleeves. Other times he chose to wear long sleeve and so far, no one had noticed. How could he be so stupid?

"Nothing, I've just gotten some rope burns," he explained. "Some of the training we do for martial arts includes rope climbing. I must have messed up my arm." He scratched the back of his head. "Or maybe it's from football practice, having to carry all of those pads and everything."

"Are you hurt?" Antonio tried to get a closer look but Rocky pushed him away.

"No, I'm fine. Go sit down and eat."

Rocky waited for his siblings to leave the bathroom before he went inside, closing the door behind him. He pulled up his sleeve and looked at his scars. They weren't that bad. Nothing anyone else would bring much notice to. Now all he had to hope was that his brothers and sisters wouldn't say anything to his parents. Lifting his gaze, Rocky studied his expression in the mirror. He never looked so unhappy in his life. All the same he managed a smile every day to hide what was going on at home and that's what counted, right?

Rocky washed his hands and left the bathroom, drying his hands on the sides of his pants. He glanced up at Daniel, who was waiting for his chance to wash his hands and looked away. Daniel immediately stopped him in his tracks with, "Your know your Mother would have a heart attack if she caught you doing that."

Rocky turned around and sized up his father. He stood casually, showing no harm or ill will his way. Rocky felt himself start to relax a little, the most he had been relaxed around his father. "Compared to the little ones, I think I'll be fine." He turned his hands back and forth. "See, I don't have paint or anything sticky stuck to my hands."

"Yeah, those two really can get into anything," Daniel agreed. "You were the same way when you were their age. But you were constantly getting into the food and our clothes."

Rocky tilted his head to the side in confused. "Your clothes?"

"Yeah, we would do the laundry and you liked the feeling of the warm clothes so much that when the drier finished you would take everything out, lay them on the ground, and roll over them. Which just made them dirty and we had to clean them again."

Rocky found himself laughing lightly. It was pretty funny.

"Can we at least be civil around each other, Rocky? I know I was gone for a while, but I'm still your father," Daniel insisted.

Instead of replying, Rocky shrugged and walked to the living room to sit down in his spot. He still wasn't sure how he felt. But at least he didn't go right into his feeling of intense rage against the man. Rocky looked over at his mother and gave her a half smile so that she would be reassured. Rosa smiled back, reaching out and grasping Rocky's hand. He smiled at her and lowered his head once Daniel came back so they could say Grace.

While his mother spoke the familiar words before they ate, Rocky's mind shifted. _God, please give me the strength to face my problems. Please guide me on the right path when I'm faced with diversity. I know what we're doing with the rangers is hard, but there's so much more going in our lives we need protection for. Thank you._

Rocky lifted his head and waited for the food to come his way, gently rubbing his wrist.

Aisha took her bag out of the trunk of her parents' car and turned to her friends as they all stood in front of her. She laughed lightly, looking at their faces. "Guys, don't look at me like that," she said. "I'm going to miss you too, but damn, at least let me get on the plane before I start to cry."

"Sorry, Aisha," Adam said, taking a step towards her. "We're just all going to really miss you."

"I know, I know," Aisha said. Her eyes moved along the faces of her colorfully dressed friends. "But you know I have to do this." She placed her hands on her hips. "Geez, I've seen you all go against incredibly strong monsters and not break a sweat and now you're all falling apart at the seams." She tried to keep her voice lighthearted and upbeat but was failing.

"I'm going to miss you, Aisha," Bailey said, walking to her and wrapping her arms around her tightly. "You always make me smile no matter what was going on."

"Yeah," Avalon agreed. "And thanks for that." She walked up behind her sister and smiled at the former ranger. "I know I've given you a hard time when you first got here, but you managed to work through that. You're a great friend and you're going to do good things, Bumblebee."

Aisha grinned at the use of Avalon's nickname for her and hugged the two girls as hard as she could. She then moved onto Kat who had her hands clasped together in front of her. "You were one of the first people to make me feel like I fit in here and I can't thank you enough for that."

Tommy was next. "You were a great addition to the team and you never let anything stand in your way no matter how big. You really do have the spirit of the bear inside you."

"Thanks, Tommy." Aisha smiled. It was one of the better complements she could get, especially from the leader of the team.

"Your skills are superior and exemplary, you have improved above and beyond what you have been when you started out with us," Billy said. "And I agree with everyone else's sentiments that you bring a certain light to the team we can't replace."

"What he said," Fred added. He looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry; I'm not really good with goodbyes."

"That's alright, Fred." Aisha reached out and removed his hat so she could ruffle his hair. "Just look out for this one, okay?" She motioned to Bailey. "And help the others as much as you can."

"You're going to do great things in Africa," Jason said. "Just as much as the great things you've done here in Angel Grove."

Aisha smiled and turned to Tanya, immediately going in for a hug. Tanya hugged her back, rocking her back and forth. "Don't forget about what I said," Tanya whispered to her. "Life's a journey, not a race."

"I know," Aisha said. "Thank you so much, Tanya."

The Yellow Zeo ranger looked surprised as she pulled back. "For what?"

"For taking the time to talk to me, for talking me down from my worries, for a lot. You're going to do great." Aisha glanced at her parents and then turned back to Tanya. "Be careful of my Mom's Banana bread, it doesn't always turn out right." Tanya laughed and hugged her again.

Then she turned to Rocky and Adam. Her two best friends. Her family. The last two people she ever wanted to leave. Adam closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again, wrapping them around Aisha. The two didn't say anything to each other as they hugged, they didn't need to. Aisha knew Adam was hurting just as much as she was. He was always incredibly sensitive and empathetic, listening to her problems and giving encouraging words when she was discouraged. She looked up at him and gently shoved him on the shoulder.

"You need to do me a favor," she said to him.

"Anything, 'Sha," he said to her. "What is it?"

"You need to be confident in yourself. In all areas. In ranger duties and not ranger duties. I want to hear you've opened up more, okay?"

"Okay." Adam leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Miss you already."

"You, too." Then Aisha finally came to Rocky, who looked at his feet. "Hey." Aisha reached out and tilted his chin up so he could look at her. "I'm not going to be gone forever. You know how I feel about you, I'll come back."

"I know," Rocky mumbled. "It's just not going to be the same without you here."

"I wish I could take you with me, but everyone else needs you. The team needs you and so does Angel Grove. You have to focus on that." She reached out her hands and held his. "I'll write letters and I'll call and I'll email. I promise you cannot get rid of me that easily." Rocky smiled and Aisha leaned in, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He turned his head and pressed his lips against hers. Aisha could feel her tears finally spill over from her eyes, turning their kiss salty as he gently held onto her cheeks, holding her still. Aisha kissed him back and smiled as he finally pulled away from the kiss and looked hard at her.

"I…" he started to say.

"I know," Aisha interrupted. "Me too." She gave him another peck and took a step back. "I have to go or I'll miss my flight." She wiped at her eyes and took her carry-on bag into her hand. Her parents had her other bags inside the terminal, wanting to give her some privacy with her friends. "Bye guys." She blew them a kiss, waving. "I love you all."

"We love you, too, Aisha," Kat said. "Have a good flight."

"Bye," Rocky said.

Aisha smiled to her friends one final time then turned her back on them, walking into the airport.


	64. Sloth

**Chapter 64**

_Sloth_

* * *

**A/N:** Just so you know, when the gold ranger is chosen and starts to show up, it is not mandatory for you to read every chapter of this (rather obscenely long) story for that arc to make sense. You only need to read the chapters that contain the gold ranger and you'll know they're in it because an author's note will lead the chapter to give credit to the submitter.

* * *

"Daddy! I want the Power Rangers destroyed and I want it now!" Prince Sprocket cried, throwing a tantrum. "What's taking so long?"

"Yes, dear," Queen Machina added, turning to King Mondo, who whipped around to glare at her. "I have to question the same thing." She waved her hand over towards Orbus, Klank, Prince Gasket, and Princess Archerina. "We've sent them and their monsters down to Earth to squish those power brats for ages now and they _still_ haven't been defeated."

King Mondo stood up from his throne. "None of you have faith in me," he accused them. "None of you understand that I may have a plan up my sleeve you aren't aware of." He waited for any of them to defy him, for them to accuse him of something else, but they hadn't said anything else in response. "What do you think I've consistently been sending out the Seven Deadly Sin monsters for? The more they're around the rangers, the worse their sin gets. The worse their sin gets, the stronger the monster gets as they feed off that energy. Sending down the rest of those monsters to lose against them has been the plan all along."

"And why is it that we haven't been included in on this plan, Father?" Prince Gasket demanded. "What if they've managed to defeat one of us before you could launch this master plan of yours?"

"They wouldn't be able to do it," King Mondo said confidently. "Not with Orbus and Klank continuously bringing out monsters for me, not when they were the ones that found and made the Seven Deadly Sins monster. Those are the ones we have to put our effort into right now. Then we can come along and defeat them ourselves."

"Oh, is _that_ what you think?" At the sound of the loud, nasally voice, the Machine Empire turned around to find Rita and Zedd standing behind them. Rita was the one who had spoken and she grinned evilly at the Machine Empire, her sharp teeth glinting in the light of their lair. King Mondo and Queen Machina exchanged glances. There was something wrong, these guys had been run off by the power rangers when they got their Zeo Powers, but now they looked as confident as ever. "We have a proposition for all of you," she said.

"Why should we listen to what you have to say?" Prince Gasket demanded. He reached out a hand and pushed Prince Sprocket behind him. "You couldn't even defeat the rangers when you had your opportunity to do so."

"We understand the rangers in better ways you could ever think to understand," Zedd reminded them. "We have fought against them longer than you have. We know their strengths and weaknesses and we know how to exploit them. You need us to defeat them completely."

King Mondo exchanged a glance with Queen Machina. It sounded interesting; Rita and Zedd certainly had grappled with the Power Rangers for a long time. And yet, they were the ones that had run off and the Machine Empire swooped in. And judging by their track record, neither Rita nor Zedd had found a way to take over any planet or universe as long as they had been around. Rita was in a freaking space dumpster for 10,000 years and Zedd hadn't done anything in that time either.

"That's an interesting idea," King Mondo finally said.

"What?" Princess Archerina gasped.

"Father, you can't be serious," Prince Gasket added.

Prince Sprocket moved out from behind his brother and shuffled to his father's side. "Daddy, I want them power rangers destroyed!" He cried again. "You need help!"

"I do not _need_ help, my boy," King Mondo shot back, frustration evident in his voice. He paused and rubbed his chin, metallic fingers scraping against his metallic chin. "What I need is a good plan. And with these two there might be something there. I could use them."

"Excellent," Zedd rumbled. He thrust his Z-scepter forward. "You won't regret it!"

Rita grinned and moved her magic wand forward as well. King Mondo then placed his staff forward and clanked it along with Rita's and Zedd's. With the three of them working together they'd be unstoppable. But there would only be one person that could rule the Earth afterwards and it was going to be King Mondo. Just because he had a plan up his sleeve didn't mean it was the only one.

"Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!"

Rocky let out a low groan and pressed his face into the pillow. He could feel little hands and knees digging into his back but he still didn't want to get up. He hadn't wanted to get up or do anything for the last month. The only thing that managed to drag him out of bed was his mother—she literally dragged him out at times—and monster fights. He and the other rangers had gotten a good hold of their powers and were continuing to get stronger day by day as the Zeo Crystal continued to increase in strength. They were nearly unstoppable wit their zords as well. No matter what the Machine Empire had thrown their way—and it had been a lot—they were always defeated in the end.

But there was something gnawing at him that didn't make him want to do anything. He didn't want to go anywhere. Hell, he didn't even want to eat a lot, of which his friends and family readily noticed. Aisha was gone and there was nothing that was making him look forward to anything in the day.

"Rocky! Get up!" He felt his eyelid pulled open and looked up at Maria, who giggled. One eye pulled open so far must've been a sight to see. "Mommy wants you to get up."

"Yeah," Diego echoed, shaking his shoulders. "Mommy wants you to get up. You gonna miss school."

"Fine." Rocky pushed himself upwards and swung his arms around Diego and Maria, lifting them with him. He stood up and walked to the doorway, the two giggling all the way, clinging to Rocky like glue. He set them down outside the door and closed it. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

Running his hands over his face, Rocky walked over to his mirror and looked into it. There were massive bags under his eyes and he surely expected it. There were more and more monster attacks going on and it was getting harder and harder to keep themselves up to their normal speed during the day. Ms. Appleby had stopped class to wake him and Adam up every now and then while the rest of their friends tried their hardest to stay up. The Machine Empire was certainly up to something if their monsters were being defeated so easily and they continued to send more down.

Turning away from the mirror, Rocky scratched the back of his neck and went to his dresser to get dressed. What was the point, really? He had no one to impress; the dress code at school wasn't so bad. So sweats and a blue shirt it was. He then grabbed his backpack, filled it up with his books, and walked downstairs. Sidestepping his father, he dropped his backpack to the ground and dropped down into his seat. Rocky finally managed a brief smile when Rosa leaned over and gave him a kiss on the side of the head.

"What's up with you?" Antonio asked around a mouthful of cereal.

Rocky shrugged but didn't reply. There was nothing wrong with him. He just stopped fighting it. His father wasn't anywhere and he certainly couldn't compete with him. He was supposed to have been the man of the house while Daniel was gone and the second he came back, even with all of Rocky's reservations, he couldn't be what it was his family wanted. Why let that bother him anymore?

"He's still mad that his girlfriend left," Isabella said. Rocky wasn't sure if she was teasing him or just stating a fact. Either way, he was annoyed. "It's okay, Rocky, we know how you feel. We lost her too. She was cool. I was hoping you would marry her."

"I'm only eighteen, Isa, why would I get married?"

"Oh, you father and I were young when we got married," Rosa pointed out. She smiled across the table at Daniel, who smiled back. "Our relationship moved pretty quickly, but we knew we were going to love each other for the rest of our lives."

"You and Aisha had that," Isabella added with an earnest nod. "I could tell."

"Yeah, and she was really great with Maria and Diego," Antonio added.

Rocky felt his upper lip curl. Okay, so they liked Aisha more than they liked him too, that was great. His whole family was against him. That was fine, he could deal with it. It just meant there was less he had to deal with. That was fine. "I've gotta go," he said. "I'm going to be late for school."

"Have a good day, Rocky," Daniel said to him. He reached out his hand to give Rocky an encouraging pat on the arm, but Rocky knocked his hand away, feeling a surge of anger rush through him.

"Don't touch me!" He spat.

Startled, Daniel held his hand in the air before standing up, towering over his son. "You will not speak to me that way," he said. "I don't care who you are. I don't care that you're my son. You're not going to speak to me like that."

"Oh is that the prison experience talking?" Rocky shot back. "Are you having flashbacks of the night you got sent to jail? Did it bother you to know that you hid all of that illegal stuff in _my_ room thinking no one would go looking for it? Did you think I wouldn't still remember the police busting into my room and pointing guns at me all because you couldn't get over your need for money?"

"Rocky!" Rosa cried.

Daniel ignored her and reached out with his hands, gabbing Rocky on the neck, his thumb and index fingers pressing into his son's cheeks. "You may think you're better than me, but you're not," he hissed. "I've made mistakes and I've owned up to my mistakes. You're the one that's living in the past and has nothing going for him." He pushed Rocky away from him. "Get out of here before I get angry!"

Rocky's chest heaved. He brought a hand up to his neck to rub the feeling of Daniel's hands against his skin away. But it remained. It burned as if emblazoned into his skin. Rocky grabbed his backpack from the floor and stormed out of the house. He climbed into the driver's seat of the car and glared ahead of him for a long moment. Reaching up his hands he started to beat them against the steering wheel allowing everything to fall out of him, all of the pent up emotion he wanted to lash out towards Daniel but didn't. What would've been the point?

There was no point.

He was very aware of that.

Shaking his head, Rocky backed out of the driveway and headed to school. Maybe seeing his friends would make him feel better. When he arrived he put on a brave face as he did every morning. It was hard to see his friends and know they were slowly changing all the time. When he joined the team it was him, Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Adam, Aisha, Avalon, and Bailey. Not it was just him, Tommy, Adam, and Avalon that were the same. Billy and Bailey both weren't able to take on the Zeo Crystal powers, Kimberly had to leave because she needed to get help with her eating disorder, and Aisha had been traded out for Tanya. Not that Tanya wasn't great; she had a really electric personality and nothing ever seemed to get her down. But it had been him, Adam, and Aisha—The Three Musketeers—as long as he could remember.

Well, now he understood what Avalon felt when she had been hostile to him and his two best friends when they first joined the team. It was hard to look at someone and see their replacement there instead. He had been on the other side of it, hearing his name mistaken for Jason's when he took on the powers of the red mighty morphin' power ranger. He had high hopes at the beginning of his tenure but then things continued to snowball; he saw the disappointment in the other rangers' faces when he pulled off his helmet and revealed his face. But things had gotten better, he thought as they got to know him. He was a strong fighter and had a great sense of justice.

But he wasn't Jason.

He wasn't the leader.

He was just the red ranger that waited for his orders and fought every cog and monster that came his way.

Rocky frowned as he walked across the parking lot towards Angel Grove High. He wasn't sure but…there was something wrong. He had questioned his abilities before, questioned whether he was a good replacement to Jason, but this was different. His thoughts were…completely different. He typically didn't dwell so much on things he couldn't change and now he found himself in a constant state of…of what?

"Hey Rocko, what's up?"

Hearing his name called, Rocky looked up and found Tommy at his locker, smiling towards him. Rocky smiled back. "Hey, man." He reached out his hand and the two high-fived. "What are you doing here so early? Normally you're the last one to class."

"Yeah, that was before I had Av and Bay living with me," Tommy remarked with a light smile. He laughed quietly, shaking his head. "Trust me when I say that Bailey is really good at getting her way when she wants it. I think she got that from Av." He ran a hand through his hair. "It's funny, I always wanted to have a brother or sister, but those two…" He laughed again, causing Rocky to laugh as well.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," Rocky agreed. "Isabella and Antonio are cool now that they're older. But Diego and Maria are getting into everything all the time." He bobbed his head back and forth. "I mean, they're cute and really fun, but they can be exhausting you know."

"Any more than these cogs are?" Tommy pointed out. He tilted his head back, groaning. "I mean, it's our duty, but these guys are really going to send us to exhaustion if they don't stop anytime soon." He lowered his voice. "Rita and Zedd have tried the same thing before, but this is worse. We haven't come close to finding out what can take down these Seven Deadly Sins monsters and they're still around."

"Right," Rocky agreed. "If they've attacked us at school once before, how do we know it won't happen again?"

"Exactly." Rocky took a deep breath. There was an idea he had that may work. But then Tommy continued speaking and his face fell. "You know, Jason was saying something about what could potentially take them down. We can have a meeting about it after school. Right now the others are in home room." He grinned. "I may have been able to get to school on time, but I still haven't found my Probability and Stats textbook and it has my homework in it."

"Come on, Tommy, how are you still managing to forget everything?" Rocky teased. But the teasing tone didn't reach his eyes.

"I have no idea. I think it's a mystery I'm not ever going to solve."

"I'll help."

Rocky and Tommy then turned to the red ranger's locker and started to look through the books and papers that crammed every inch of the locker. Rocky was surprised he could find anything within it, especially considering he managed to find a set of clothes for martial arts practice that had been squished at the bottom of the locker. He held it out to Tommy, giving him a knowing look, and he grinned, shoving it into the bottom of his backpack. Finally, the boys managed to find the textbook just as the bell rang. They raced off to class, arriving just as Ms. Appleby was starting to close the door.

"Boys, I'm not going to tolerate this tardiness," She said, opening the door so that they could get inside. "I expect it from Tommy,"—she looked over as the red ranger gave her an offended glance—"No offence, Tommy. But you know you haven't had the best track record lately." He shrugged and sat down. "But not from you, Rocky." She reached out and grabbed onto his arm. "Is everything alright? I know it's been a bit hard to see Aisha leave, she was always such a bright figure in the class."

 _And you have to remind me about that because?_ Rocky thought, but didn't say it out loud. "Yeah, Ms. Appleby, I'm fine."

"Problems at home?"

Then he froze. Did she know about his father? Probably not. There was no one in Angel Grove that knew his father had been nabbed and placed in jail for being a drug dealer. That was only known in Stone Canyon. He wasn't on any of his emergency contact forms so as far as she or Mr. Kaplan were concerned, he didn't exist.

"No, everything's fine," Rocky insisted.

"Okay…please sit down." Ms. Appleby motioned for him to join the rest of his classmates. "Miss. Mitchell if you would so kindly to stop whispering with Mr. Cranston we can get class started." Rocky glanced over at Avalon and Billy, the former who smiled sheepishly and the latter who blushed and nodded, as he sat down in his seat. For a moment he wondered what Billy was doing there if he had graduated already, then remembered he was still able to go to school for extracurricular activities, as well as finishing out his tenure as the president of the match and science clubs. As far as rumors went, he heard Billy also spent his time with Ms. Appleby and Mr. Kaplan doing who knows what?

The rangers had asked Avalon about it and she was as baffled as they were. However when they asked Billy he evaded the question mysteriously, just as he did with the time he spent in the Power Chamber. He spent more and more time there each day, especially after a battle that damaged their zords. When they asked him to hang out or to go over to their houses for their movie night every Friday he would decline, even if it were at his house. It was really starting to get weird.

"Now, I have your tests back from last week and I have to say a lot of you did a great job on it," Ms. Appleby said. She started to pace back and forth in front of her desk, holding onto a stack of papers. "However there were a few of you that could and have certainly done better. Please don't make a habit of this." She then looked up at the class for a long moment. "I understand that things are hard for you all right now with college applications, the impending SAT, your futures…" she paused. "Raise of hands, how many of you are afraid of the future?" Rocky raised his hands into the air and watched as all of his friends and his classmates lifted their hands into the air. "What is that you're afraid of?"

 _Complete failure, not living up to anyone else's standards, not being wanted,_ were all of the thoughts that zoomed through Rocky's head as soon as she asked.

"I'm afraid of the SAT honestly," Kat said once she was called on. "I know it's silly, but…it's a very important test that's supposed to tell us our entire future. What colleges we get into…which in turn determines the kinds of jobs we'll get afterwards. It's pretty scary, yeah?"

"I can understand that," Ms. Appleby said. She smiled a little. "What can you do to be prepared?" She motioned towards Billy. "I'm sure Mr. Cranston wouldn't mind helping out with college applications and studying for the test."

Rocky twisted around in his seat when he realized Billy hadn't responded right away. He looked to be somewhere else entirely. When he noticed all eyes were on him he turned back to the front and nodded at her. Ms. Appleby nodded back and Rocky briefly wondered if Ms. Appleby was in on the secret Billy was keeping.

"I'm afraid of not being successful," Adam said. "There's so much that can happen that you can't see coming until it does."

"That's a reasonable fear to have." Ms. Appleby then moved to the orange ranger. "Avalon?"

"Not being happy," she said simply. "I'm afraid I'm not going to be happy."

"That's a very interesting one as well, and one that many people do fear," Ms. Appleby remarked. She stopped pacing and clasped hr hands in front of her. "But you know what I have to say? Stop worrying. If you worry about the future or what happened in the past, then the present isn't going to be very kind to you." She gave the class a warm smile then started to pass out the tests. "If there're any questions that you have, please don't hesitate to let me know."

Rocky waited for his test to be brought to him and glanced at Ms. Appleby's face. She didn't meet his eye, almost ashamed, and passed it over to him. Frowning, Rocky grabbed the test and flipped it over. He stared at the giant 'D' that sat at the top of the paper. He could've sworn he had done a good job on the test, he felt prepared for it. Unless it was the day he ended up falling asleep in class.

Sighing heavily, Rocky leaned back in his seat, pressing his hand to his test and turned it back over. He didn't need the constant reminder how much of a loser he was.

The rest of his classes flew by and before he knew it, it was lunchtime. Moving his tray along the lunch line, Rocky stared at the different options of food that was presented before them. "Aren't you going to eat anything Rocky?" Tanya asked, standing behind him.

Avalon, who was before him, turned and glanced at his tray. "Did you have two breakfasts this morning?"

"I guess I'm just not very hungry," Rocky declared. But he did take a slice of pizza, a hamburger, and a sub along with a side of peas and carrots. For him that was how much he ate when he 'wasn't hungry'. The three paid for their food and went to the table where their friends were waiting. "I didn't do so well on my test."

"Really?" Adam looked interested. "It can't be that bad." He nearly choked when Rocky showed it to him. "Okay, maybe it can be that bad."

"Thanks a lot," Rocky grumbled.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed," Jason pointed out. He spoke to Rocky but his eyes weren't focused on him or his friends. As a matter of fact they were darting around the cafeteria; every now and then he leaned back and forth, as if looking for someone.

"Yeah, we'll help you," Kat agreed. She reached out and grabbed Rocky's hand, squeezing it in hers. "We're not going to let you fail."

"Yeah, and I'd bet you'd like that, too," Rocky said, before being able to stop himself. "Rocky failing wouldn't be the most surprising thing in the world, would it?" He noticed Kat was starting to stroke his hand and roughly pulled it away from her.

"She didn't say that," Tommy contradicted. "We're just saying if you need help we'd be glad to do it. All of us."

"What's the use?" Rocky threw his hands into the air. "Our grades are so good no matter if we fail a class we'll still be accepted into every college that we apply to. Not to mention all of our extracurricular."

Avalon snorted. "If that were the case why don't we go out and just say that we're rangers now?" She rolled her eyes. "Just jump up onto a table and yell it out. I'm sure half of these people already know anyway?"

"Yeah, that's because you can't keep your mouth shut," Rocky pointed out.

Avalon glared and gave him the finger.

"Guys! Guys!" Tanya threw out her hands amongst the rising tension among the table. "Come on, we're not supposed to be fighting with each other. We're supposed to be fighting against the Machine Empire. I thought the point of this meeting was to do that."

"It is," Adam said, sounding weary. "Jason had an idea that might take down the SDS monsters and—"he paused, glancing at Tanya's wrist. "Where'd you get that watch?" Rocky looked over at the African teen and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the expensive watch sitting on Tanya's wrist. Then he looked at her, noticing her cheeks turn red. "Did Shawn give you that?"

"Yeah, as an anniversary gift," Tanya said sheepishly. "We've been going out for a month now."

"That's kind of exxy for a one month isn't it?" Avalon asked, her freckled nose wrinkling with distaste. She leaned back out of the way as Jason leaned into her space, continuing to look towards the open double doors of the cafeteria. "If this chick was trying to steal from a bookstore, I'm not sure she puts much stock going to school, Rudolph," she said to him then grabbed his shoulder, pushing him upright. "Pay attention. This is for the safety of the city, remember?"

Jason's sat up straight and rested his arms on the table top, suddenly regaining composure. But Rocky could still see his eyes darting towards the doors every now and then. "Right," he said. "I have an idea that might give us the upper hand with the SDS."

"Of course," Rocky muttered. Tommy cast him a glance but he didn't say anything.

"As we've seen, they're targeting each and every one of you rangers," Jason explained. "And they're all targeting you specifically so that whenever there's a group of you that's there to attack, they easily deflect the rest of you off and focus on the one."

"Like what happened with Kat at the football game," Tanya agreed. "That monster was seriously putting the attention on her."

"And with Tommy and that peacock monster," Adam added. "Remember? We defeated the cogs and went after him but it was only focusing on Tommy."

"Wait." Avalon held up a hand as if she were in class again. Her eyes flashed with worry and she pulled her dark brown hair over her shoulder, stroking it with her hands. "Does that mean the rest of us can't help the targeted one if these monsters start a fight again?"

"I don't know," Jason admitted. "But it's something we have to put that into consideration." He suddenly sat up straight and looked around before addressing the table. "Where's Billy? I thought he would like to hear this. Maybe come up with some conclusions of his own."

"Mr. Kaplan called him into his office," Kat explained. "He said he would catch up later."

"I'll fill him in, no worries," Avalon said. "I have to tell Bailey and Fred as it is and it'd be better if I can tell the lot at once time, yeah?" She scratched the side of her neck. "But what are we supposed to do until then?"

"The same thing we always do," Tommy said firmly. "Trust in ourselves and our abilities. We're going to stop them and keep the Machine Empire from destroying Angel Grove."

###

"This is the perfect time," King Mondo said to Acedia. The blue snail pulsated as it had been since that morning. "The blue ranger is making you stronger with his unforgiving thoughts. The stronger you get, the harder it will be for them to defeat you."

"Yes! Yes!" Rita declared, looking through her telescope, of which she had taken something from the Lunar Palace. She looked down at the rangers as they practice their martial arts after school. Rocky was trying to find someone to spar with but found that he was continuously being overtaken by Jason, instead. She watched as the blue ranger's shoulders slumped and he walked over to an empty table at the Youth Center, sulking. "Rocky is certainly feeling the blues now. Just what we need for Acedia to get to its demon form."

"I've been waiting for this!" King Mondo cried gleefully. "This is what we needed!"

"What do you say that we attack them now?" Zedd growled. "Show those rangers that it really means to face against the Machine Empire." He thought for a moment and turned back to Rita. "Thank God we don't have Rito or Goldar around, they would mess this up for sure."

"Of course, Zeddy," Rita replied. "And we can't miss the show where the rangers will be destroyed for once. Starting off with little Rocky." She turned back to her telescope. "He's leaving! The blue ranger is now alone! It's the perfect time to go against him."

"Acedia, go!" King Mondo declared. "Destroy the blue ranger!"

"You got it, boss!" Acedia replied.

###

Rocky sighed as he slung his gym bag over his shoulder. Okay, so maybe the others didn't want to practice with him. That was fine; Jason had just finished sparring with Adam and then it was Tommy's turn. But even when he asked Billy, who finally came out of hiding in the Power Chamber, he was next to get some practice in with Jason. What was he? Chopped liver?

Even Adam, who had just finished his practice, then went on to practice with Tanya. Kat was practicing her dancing and Av didn't know anything about martial arts, instead deciding to rely on her strength—doing a lot of weight training—and what she knew from street fighting. That was fine; if they didn't want him then he could find something else to do.

_I don't need them._

"That's right, ranger! Keep thinking that!"

Rocky looked up in time to find Acedia's shell open up to reveal a canon underneath, it pointed directly at him. "Who are you?" He demanded. "What do you want?"

"I'm Acedia the Seven Deadly Sin of Sloth, and you've empowered me, Blue Ranger!" Acedia cried. He laughed as a group of cogs appeared, encircling rocky. "Now prepare to die a slow and painful death!"

Rocky felt his body lurch to the side as a cog grabbed onto his bag and lurched him sideways. He fell to the ground, pulling his arm out of the bag at the same time and followed his momentum to the ground. He rolled to his feet and made quick work of the cogs. Ducking and spinning around he punched and kicked at the cogs, knocking them down. With a few left, he jumped up and struck two cogs in the face, causing their faceplates to fall off, revealing their circuitry underneath. Rocky grabbed onto them and pulled them out, short circuiting the cogs and sending them to the ground. Finally, with a spinning kick, he knocked over the last cog. He turned back to Acedia, falling into a fighting stance.

"Now about you," he said, turning to the snail. "I'm going to send you back where you came from. Slime and all."

Acedia let out a low chuckle. "What would be the point in that?" He asked. "You're not good enough to beat m and you never will be."

Rocky faltered, lowering his fists. Then he lowered his gaze towards his feet. He was right. Rocky watched as his whole body started to glow blue, in time with Acedia's own glow. Shaking his head, Rocky lifted his chin and glared at Acedia.

"You're going to eat those words!" He declared and brought up his morpher. "It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger III, Blue!" Fully morphed, Rocky summoned his Zeo Power Axe and charged towards Acedia. He slashed towards the monster, but it spun out of the way, with the use of its slime, moving faster than Rocky anticipated. He slipped and slid, falling to the ground. Scrambling back to his feet, Rocky came towards him with the axe once more.

"Let's see you handle this!" Acedia opened his shell and shot a blast of bullets out towards him. Rocky spun his Zeo power weapon in front of him and knocked the bullets back towards the snail monster.

"Rangers, Acedia has made an appearance outside the Youth Center. Rocky needs your help," Alpha's voice came through Rocky's helmet.

Angered, Rocky shook his head. "No! I don't need any help; I can handle it on my own!" But he could hear Tommy's response that the other rangers would be there any minute. He charged forward once more, slashing his axe down towards Acedia's head, missing as the snail monster pulled its head back into its shell. Rocky stumbled forward and crashed onto his stomach on the ground.

"Hiya!"

"Ya!"

Rocky rolled over to find Tommy, Kat, Tanya, Adam, and Avalon all leapt forward, Zeo Power Weapons summoned, attacking Acedia. The snail monster, showing its blinding speed once more, spun around and slammed right into the rangers, knocking them off their feet and back onto the ground.

"Man, this guy is tougher than I thought," Tommy muttered as he got back to his feet.

"That just means we'll have to try harder!" Avalon declared. She placed her gloved palm against the sword of her weapon. "Charging Zeo Power Scythe!" The blade glowed orange and she raced forward once more. Leaping high into the air, "Hiya!" She brought her Power Scythe down and it connected against Acedia's shell. There was a bright flash of light and a surge of power that ricocheted Avalon up into the air and onto the ground in a crash landing.

"Av!" Adam hurried to her side. "Are you okay?"

"I reckon I'm alright," Avalon replied as she got to her feet. "But that extra power surge wasn't such a great idea."

"Then let's try another blast!" Tommy said. "Zeo Laser Pistol!"

"Zeo Laser Pistol!" Tanya, Adam, Avalon, and Kat repeated, pulling out their weapons.

"Wait!" Rocky cried, holding out his hand. "That's not going to work!"

"Fire!" Tommy declared and the five shot off their pistols. The beams of energy shot out from the pistols and shot towards Acedia. Once more it ducked its head underneath its shell. The beams of energy hit the shell and blasted off, back into the rangers, striking them in the chest and knocking them to the ground.

Rocky hurried over to his friends and stood behind them as they got up. "Guys, are you okay? I told you it wasn't going to work. This guy is too strong for us." He gasped in shock, finding his hands glowing blue once more.

"That's right, blue ranger!" Acedia's voice echoed from underneath his shell. "Keep doubting. You're fueling me more than you could ever imagine." He lifted his head and slid forward, ramming Rocky in the chest. "It's exactly what I needed!" The snail monster erupted in a blast of light that was so blue it was almost white. The rangers shielded their faces. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Acedia cackled with laughter and when the light faded he transformed into a demonic, humanoid snail. "Let's see you handle this!"

He raced forward and charged Rocky, knocking him in the chest so hard that he flew back and crashed against a parked car. Rocky saw sparks fly off his suit, sparks that held a blue tinge, and crashed to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut, hearing a cracking sound and saw that the corner of his visor had cracked. If it had broken he would've gotten glass in the eye.

"Ugh, I didn't think it was possible for snails to look any uglier," Tanya said, holding onto her pistol.

"You got that right," Tommy agreed.

Rocky struggled to his knees and held a hand up to the side of his helmet. "Zordon, Alpha, Jason, Bailey, Fred. I don't know what's going on with this guy but it looks like this guy is invincible."

"Don't give up yet," Fred declared. "If there's anyone that can come up with a solution it's us. Just give us some more time."

"I think you lot should pull back," Bailey declared. "None of what you're doing has been working. I don't even think the Zeo Blaster is going to do anything at this point."

"I concur," Billy said. "Our readings indicate that Acedia is continuing to get stronger by the second. It only stopped when the other rangers came in, getting closer to them. Much like when Kat was being attacked by the goat."

"What if that's the point?" Jason asked. "Earlier, the goat monster said she was only after Kat."

"Yeah, and it looks like this guy is only after me," Rocky declared. Hearing a cry of pain, he looked up in time to find Adam blow backwards with a strike to the chest and stomach from one of the folds of skin that covered Acedia. "He said I was the key to its power."

"Just like the goat monster!" Bailey gasped. "I get it now! The Seven Deadly Sins are representations of the carnal sins that each person holds within. In a biblical sense if anyone falls to those sins once they perish they will be cast to hell, yeah? In this case, the Machine Empire is using the sins that are exhibited to gain power."

"How intuitive, Bailey," Billy added. "But they're not just taking the power of the sins from regular people, but from the rangers. They're taking away Rocky's feelings of the sin. In this case Acedia is the representation of sloth."

"But isn't sloth the sin that makes you lazy?"

"Not necessarily, there are other factors that go into it as well," Billy said. "Failure to complete anything, spiritual or emotional apathy, being physically and emotionally inactive. In other words..."

"Depressed," Jason broke in.

"Exactly!"

Then it hit Rocky like a ton of bricks. He really had been depressed and for a long time, since his father showed up again, if he had to guess. Not only did he not feel inclined to do anything anymore, but he was rarely inclined to do anything that was suggested to him. No wonder he thought doing school work, going against cogs and monsters, and everything else was useless. It had to have gotten worse once Aisha left. That was it. That was why he allowed himself to feel so emotionally that he…Rocky clenched his hand into a fist, remembering the scars that lined up the inside of his arm.

 _I'm not going to let them get away with this!_ He thought.

There was a surge of power, and Rocky shielded his body. Turning around, he watched as his friends twisted and turned through the air, having gotten hit by another blast of Acedia's canon. This time, as they hit the ground, they demorphed, groaning in pain. It really was true; no one else could touch him.

"Hey! Snail face!" Rocky cried. He slowly started to walk back towards his enemy. "You're going to pay for taking down my friends."

"Oh is that so?" Acedia replied, turning its attention to him. "You seem to have gotten over your bad mood pretty quickly."

"I have! Now knowing that you were taking advantage of me and my friends!"

"It doesn't matter now that I'm in my final form! I'm too strong for you! You can't stop me!" Acedia glowed once more. This time the energy centralized into the canon underneath its shell. Rocky started running towards the snail monster.

"Zeo Jet Cycle!" Rocky declared. His cycle was teleported down to him and he grabbed the handlebar, swinging up into the seat. Revving the engine, Rocky shot the Jet Cycle towards Acedia. The snail monster fired off the canon and the blast of energy shot towards Rocky. Lowering his head, Rocky swung his Zeo Power Axe, the blade crashing through the center of the blast, splitting it in two. "Nice try! Now watch this!" He revved the bike once more and struck Acedia in the side with his axe, spun his bike around and struck him once more.

This time the blast knocked Acedia off his feet. Ricky leapt off his Jet Cycle and watched as Acedia rolled across the ground. "Given up yet?" He called, holding onto his power axe with both hands. "I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"No way, blue ranger!" Acedia cried. "I know there's plenty more sin in there!" He got back to his feet, eyes flashing. "I know you think you're lousy compared to all of your friends. I know you think there's no point in doing anything anymore. Why don't you give up now?"

"Not happening," Rocky said. "I know what keeps me going. I may miss Aisha, I may miss my friends who aren't part of the team anymore, I may feel like my Dad shouldn't be around anymore but I know that I'm supposed to be a ranger! And I know with my friends by my side I can protect Angel Grove and everyone in it. And that means taking you down, then so be it!"

The two started to glow once more, this time the monster's glow dimming while Rocky's got brighter.

"No!" Acedia cried. "What's happening to me?"

"Something that should've happened a long time ago!" Rocky said. "Zeo Three Power Cell, power up!" It appeared in his hand and he threw it high into the air. When it came down, he swung his Zeo Power Axe and broke it in half, taking the power into his Zeo Power Axe. "Take this! Charging Zeo Power Axe!" He ran his gloved hand over the blade of his Power Axe, it glowing blue one he pulled his hand off.

Acedia charged up his canon and sprinted towards Rocky. Rocky charged towards him as well. Acedia fired off his charged up blast while Rocky swung his Zeo Power Axe, shooting off his own energy source. The light was so bright he closed his eyes. He froze in an awkward pose, arms up into the air and holding onto his axe. He turned around and stared at Acedia at the same time the monster did. Rocky stumbled and fell to his knees, bringing a hand up to his chest. It burned.

Looking down, Rocky fond a black sludge on the front of his suit, burning him. Acedia must've shot it out at the same time he attacked. Acedia watched him, slowly standing up straight. _Dammit! What are we going to do now?_ Rocky thought.

"Nice try, blue ranger!" Acedia cried. He started to walk towards her then came to a sudden stop. He let out a screeching pain and his body started to bubble. "What? What? WHAT'S HAPPENING!" He continued to scream, his body continuing to blister and bubble. "ARGH! NO!"

Acedia fell backwards onto the ground and exploded.

Rocky grinned beneath his helmet before pitching to the side, everything going black.

###

"Looks like he's waking up. You're going to be okay, Rocky." Rocky's eyelids fluttered and his eyes opened to find his friends hovering over him. Billy grinned as he backed away from the blue zeo ranger, turning off his flashlight. "Good to have you back."

"Where am I?" Rocky mumbled, closing his eyes again.

"The medical ward of the Power Chamber," Billy explained. "You really overexerted yourself when fighting Acedia. You did a great job, but you almost overdid it." He glanced at a clipboard before putting it aside. "The influx of power was almost too strong for you."

"How'd that happen?" Rocky swallowed hard, his throat dry. Then he slowly sat up, bringing a hand to his head. "Ow, my head hurts."

"Hopefully not more than usual," Billy teased.

Rocky smiled. "That's not funny."

"I acknowledge it's not the most comical of my attempts at humor." Billy smiled as well. "As we had come to find, Acedia was getting stronger every time you exhibited your sin. When you were able to change your mindset, you sucked the energy from Acedia. The fact he was in his heightened state of power, or else we can refer to it as its demon form, made you stronger. The excess energy used made you pass out."

"Where's everyone else? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, Rocky. They're waiting back at the Youth Center waiting on news about you," Billy said. He crossed his arms, shifting his gaze. "You should be proud. You've brought us one step closer to defeating the Machine Empire. Even if you had to do it by yourself."

"It didn't look like I had a choice," Rocky said. He shook his head. "All of the others were bouncing off him like tic-tacs."

"Yes, that's something we have to look into as well," Billy admitted and added something under his breath that sounded like, "Or at least _I'll_ have to."

Sitting up, Rocky found that his headache was going away. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Then he realized he felt better. The weight of the world wasn't on his shoulders; he didn't feel like things weren't worth it. _These monsters really have a stronger reach than we originally thought._ Then he started to rub his arms and froze, his fingertips moving over his scars. He looked over at Billy, who looked back at him.

"I can explain," he said weakly.

Billy held up his hand. "There's no need for you to explain, Rocky. Due to multiple areas of study I am familiar with many different…coping mechanisms people have with their issues. But if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. Just know that all of us are here for you."

"Thanks," Rocky said gratefully. He lowered his gaze. "I know the others should know but…I don't know if I can say anything…"

"That's fine. It's up to you to decide."

"Thanks."

The former ranger smiled again. "You already said that."

"I know. But I really mean it."

"Then you're welcome."

###

"Blast it!" Zedd cried. "We were so close to having him destroyed!"

"I knew we should've made it grow," Rita added.

"Fear not," King Mondo said calmly. "That was only part one of the plan. We have six more to go."


	65. Lust

**Chapter 64**

_Lust_

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks to Ms-Strange Imagination for her submission of Evie Caldwell, whose character has been chosen for the story and will first appear in this chapter.

* * *

Kat splashed water over her face, staring at herself in the mirror. She had been doing that a lot lately, wondering if there was anything different about her. She felt different. No, it wasn't that she felt different; it was that her mind had shifted. She didn't know when it happened but she was starting to see Tommy in a new light and she felt like a slug for it.

How many times had she needed to talk herself out of everything she felt for him? Too many to count. Knowing Kim had only just recently broken up with him had spurred on some of her thoughts into overdrive. But as quickly as they would come she would shake them away just as she shook the water droplets off her fingertips. Turning her back to her reflection, Kat pressed her palms against the counter and leaned back, tilting her head so that the ponytail draped down behind her.

 _Okay, Kat, keep your mind on everything else. On the SDS, on working to defeat the Machine Empire and King Mondo. On your school work. SATs are coming up fast; you need to really pay attention to that and not to Tommy._ A sigh escaped her lips as another flash of the red ranger popped into her head before she could stop it.

It had to be some kind of a curse or something. To like the guy that was taken. When she first arrived in Angel Grove he had been really nice to her, really quick to cheer her up about moving and to make sure she felt that she was included. Kim had done the same thing. And she appreciated it but there was that little butterfly in her stomach that started to hatch, not growing its wings until she spent more time with them. And she felt like a slug. He was taken, he and Kimberly were so obviously in love there was no reason for her feelings to be there and yet once she took over the powers of the pink crane she found herself trying her best to prove that she deserved the powers, not just for her own sake, but to prove to Tommy as well.

He was the leader; he needed to know he could trust her on the team. And yet her long, lingering looks continued after the others had given her the go ahead. Her recent conversation with Avalon helped a little, but the nagging emptiness was still there. No, she didn't expect for Tommy to suddenly come around and say she was the best thing since the last pink ranger—boy wouldn't that be a surprise, but she was expecting _something._

_"Aw, my poor little Kitty Kat."_

A gasp escaped Kat's lips as Rita's voice came to her head. She whipped around, expecting to find the space witch standing behind her, grinning, holding up her magic wand as she took control over the pink ranger as she had done before. But there was nothing there. Maybe she had imagined that, too. Just liked everything else. Still, it was something else she hadn't really thought of; whether or not Rita still had her hold over her.

Maybe she was still an enemy to the rangers…

"Kat? Honey, you've got to get going or you're going to be late," Mrs. Hilliard called, knocking on the bathroom door. "Tanya's here for pick you up."

 _Tanya? How is she here?_ Normally Kat was the one that went to get her, not the other way around. Something big was up. "Okay, mom!" She turned back to the mirror and applied her makeup before taking her backpack up off the ground and hurried out of the bathroom. Her mother gave a cry of surprise as she raced down the stairs and out the door, calling goodbye as she went. Kat came to such a sudden stop that she almost pitched herself face forward onto the ground. Tanya sat in the driveway behind the steering wheel of a black convertible with Shawn grinning at her from the passenger seat.

"Kat! C'mon, we're going to be late!" Tanya called, waving her hand in the air.

"I-I'm coming," Kat said. She went over to the car, glancing at Shawn as he climbed out of the passenger seat and moved the seat forward so she could climb into the back. But Shawn wasn't looking at her at all he only had eyes for the yellow Zeo Ranger, whom he had became nothing short of close to within the last couple of weeks. Lately Kat hadn't been able to see Tanya without Shawn. To the point that their get-togethers after school had dwindled unless Shawn came with them. "This is a really nice car."

"Isn't it?" Tanya gushed. She lovingly ran her hands along the sides of the steering wheel. "Shawn got it for his birthday last year. He said he doesn't let anyone else drive it."

"So, why-?"

"I've got to let my girl see that I really care about her, right?" Shawn interrupted. Kat's eyebrows rose, noticing the sharp edge to his tone. "It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks as long as she's happy." With that, he leaned over and placed a kiss on Tanya's cheek. Kat's eyebrows furrowed as Tanya smiled sheepishly, her shoulders hunching up. Shawn looked at Kat out of the corner of her eye and she looked back at him, frowning.

She didn't like him. At all. But she couldn't say anything Tanya about it. The two had grown to be very close since she had joined the ranger team but there were still some things they didn't talk about. Maybe she should've said something to Tanya but maybe she was overreacting. _Still, how many guys let their girlfriends drive their car when they don't have their license?_

Kat held her backpack to her chest, praying to whatever Gods were out there that she would make it safe and sound to school as Tanya continued to brake every few seconds, and once accidentally took the wrong lane to make a left hand turn that caused horns to blare all around them. It was only then that Shawn reached out and grabbed onto the steering wheel, jerking it to the side so correct them and yelled at her for it.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded as she straightened on the road once more. "Did you not see that car? Are you fucking blind?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tanya squeaked out an apology, her shoulders hunching up even higher. "I didn't realize that was the way to go. I'm still getting used to the way roads work here and driving in general." She let out a long breath. "But I think I've got it now."

"Well make sure you're watching where you're going next time," Shawn continued.

Kat leaned forward. "Don't worry about it, Tanya, you're still learning," She tried to comfort her. But feeling Shawn's anger radiate from her that close was really starting to scare her as much as his abrupt anger towards Tanya was.

"Yeah, and she needs to learn faster," Shawn snapped.

"Boofhead," Kat muttered as they pulled into the Angel Grove parking lot. She practically flew out of the backseat of the car once they arrived at the school, nearly crashing into Tommy as she went. He reached out and grabbed onto her shoulders to steady her.

"What's the rush Kat?" He asked, straightening once more. "You look like you're about to be sick."

"Riding around in that car…?" Kat glanced over at Shawn as he went to the driver's seat of the car and opened it. His smile was ear to ear as he took her hand, helping her out, as if the way he had spoken to her before had never happened. "I'm surprised I didn't willingly jump out. I mean…" she shrugged, turning back to Tommy. "Tanya's doing her best it's just Shawn—"

"What about Shawn?" Adam asked, appearing at Tommy's side with Rocky. He pulled his backpack up his shoulders and turned his gaze to the yellow ranger and her boyfriend. Kat watched his face; his eyebrows rose, his eyes lowered, and then they narrowed. "Other than not quite getting what it is between them you mean?"

"I thought I was the only one who thought that," Rocky said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Since when does he let anyone take out his car? Just a few days ago he screamed at a freshman for coming within a millimeter of it when he was walking by."

"Yeah, and he's been giving her so many gifts lately," Adam agreed. "The necklace, the watch, I didn't think she was into that sort of thing. Being materialistic…"

Tommy cleared his throat as Tanya turned their way, grinned, waved, and left Shawn to join her friends. "We're not ones that can really judge," he said quickly. "We're not really in their relationship, so we can't really say what's right and wrong. And she only just came here from Africa, so maybe she's getting used to everything the US has to offer."

Kat nodded quickly. "Tommy's right," she agreed.

"Yeah, well, it seems like Tommy is right about a lot of things," Avalon announced her arrival as she came over to the group, rounding them off. "Where's Jay?"

"He said he's going to be late today," Tommy replied. "He's got a physical with the doctor. Why?"

"Gotcha. He asked me to look into something for him and I've got that information." She shook her head. "But what is it that you lot are talking about this time?" Then her eyes shifted to follow the other's gaze and she nodded. "Gotcha. No explanations necessary." Her eyebrows shot upwards for a moment. "Though I don't really have much to say about that considering I dated Chase for a while and look how that turned out."

Kat looked around as Rocky, Adam, and Tommy all exchanged glances of which she wasn't sure what they meant. Instead, she turned her gaze to Avalon, who looked back at her with an expression that was akin to deer in headlights but not quite that far. "Sorry?" She asked. "Who's Chase? It doesn't seem like anything good has happened to him…"

"Oh, he's in j—"Rocky started but Avalon beat him to it.

"Jacksonville," she said. "He's in Jacksonville and far away from me and that's all I can ask for, yeah?" She gently shook her head. "But the way I see it, he's not nearly as bad as Shawn so there's that."

"What about Shawn?" Tanya asked as she finally joined her friends. The rangers all replied 'nothing' at different times, but it didn't seem like Tanya cared. The bright smile on her face that revealed her teeth was nothing short of brilliant. "Look what Shawn gave me!" She held out her right hand to reveal a bright ring. "He just asked me to be his girlfriend, officially."

"And he gave you that?" Avalon asked bluntly.

Tanya ignored her, putting her hand back down to her side and gushed. "I just didn't think it was something guys over here did. Back home we'd get animals and prized possessions and stuff but thing this extravagant. I guess this is what people mean when they say they're living the dream."

Now Tommy cleared his throat. "Uh, Tanya, don't you think—"He was cut off as the bell rang and Tanya turned towards the sound, said that they needed to get to class and they started walking again. "Okay then…"

"It's alright, Tommy," Kat said. She reached out and gently rubbed his back. "You tried."

"Yeah," he agreed. "C'mon, we don't want to be late either."

Kat dropped her hand away from Tommy as he stepped forward, launching into a conversation about football with Adam and Rocky. Kat took in a breath through her nose, watching as Tommy walked away from her. Her hand shook and her stomach twisted into knots as she watched him. He seemed to be feeling a little bit better since his and Kim's breaking up but she could still see it bothered him. Maybe there was something she and the others could do that'd take his mind off it, someplace they could go…?

 _That's it._ Kat started to smile. It must've been a really big one because Avalon moved in front of her and started to walk backwards, looking at her. "What?"

"What are you smiling about?" Avalon asked her eyes boring into Kat's.

"Sorry." Kat's smile widened. "Right now, it's a secret."

And it was certainly going to make Tommy realize that she wasn't Kim and never would be.

* * *

Billy planted his feet on the floor of the Power Chamber and rested his face in his hands. His eyes burned and a wave of fatigue washed over him. How long has he been there this time? The last thing he remembered outside of the Power Chamber was his father telling him to have a good day and to remember to fill out a few applications. Was that this morning or the morning before? Everything was blending together through all of his work at the Power Chamber and his own work.

What was the point anyway? Working in the Power Chamber and helping the other so much? As long as they had the Zeo Crystals they were going to get stronger all the time. And judging by their work with his weapons and Zords it didn't seem like there were any issues with that either. That's where his talents lied, but they weren't his only talents.

 _If I were back out there…_ Billy closed his eyes and turned his head away. No. He couldn't allow himself to think about that. He would get too angry, too…pissed off that he had willingly given up a chance to continue to fight against evil. _No,_ he reminded himself. _You didn't give them up; you didn't have a pure enough heart to take them on. That's such a joke, Billy. You're the one that doesn't have a pure enough heart to take on power ranger powers. Compared to some of the others…_ He lifted his head from his hands and pushed back against the floor, dragging his feet as he did so.

Resting his mouth in his hand, he lifted his gaze and looked at the empty viewing globe, head filled with as many thoughts as he wanted and didn't want all the same. All having to do with being a power ranger and his future. What was he going to do now? How much longer were they going to keep going with being rangers? They couldn't hold that responsibility for the rest of their lives at some point they would have to leave it to someone else to take over. Maybe Bailey and Fred would lead the team. Like everyone else there was supposed to be a time where something would become more important and Billy's was coming up much faster than he had anticipated.

"What's the matter, Billy?"

Turning in his seat, Billy looked p at Alpha and smiled. The robot was walking towards him with small steps, as if afraid of what Billy had to say in response. "Hey Alpha, how's it going?" He asked him, tiredly.

"Oh, me?" Alpha placed his hands on his chest before scratching the side of his chrome dome. "Well, what _is_ up with me? I think my diodes need a tune-up, and I could go for an oil change. But I don't think there's anything 'up' with me. I don't think any of my parts stand up."

A chuckle escaped Billy's lips. "It's a figure of speech, Alpha," he explained. "By now I figured all of Kim's slang would've rubbed off on you."

"Yes, well, my language modulator doesn't seem to have worked very well in those terms," Alpha said. He took another step forward. "But I have noticed that you haven't answered my question."

"What was the question again?" He knew what it was; he hoped that he could stall as long as he possible could. Alpha was one of the few people that would be able to see when there was something wrong with the rangers. Maybe having had been around them so much had changed some of his modules or something. Billy needed to take a look; he hadn't made sure Alpha hadn't been compromised in a long time.

"What's wrong?"

Billy let out a light breath through his teeth. How was he really supposed to answer that question? How would he answer it in a way that Alpha would understand? Hearing a sound that was like a surge of power, the former ranger turned around to find Zordon appeared in his Power Tube and knew the mentor was about to impart with him his words of wisdom. Then he knew they were very concerned about him.

"Billy," Zordon said to him. "You have been spending a lot of time here lately. Despite all of the amazing efforts you've put into the rangers and their Zords, we can't help but be worried about you and I'm sure that your friends are worried as well."

"You don't need to be," Billy said firmly. He cleared his throat and forked his hand through his hair. "I'm fine. I just want to be sure everything is working well. We haven't seen much with what the Zeo Crystals can really do and I'm still trying to understand how it continues to get stronger as the rangers hold onto their morphers."

"Billy," Zordon said firmly. "I understand the emotional pull it has been not to have your powers anymore. It is something that Bailey and Jason have been dealing with too, but I understand it is harder for you. Especially with the means behind why your heart was not pure enough to take on the Zeo Powers."

Pressing his lips together, Billy did his best to keep his face neutral. How were they to understand the thoughts he tried to keep to himself when there were constant reminders all over the place. Maybe he was a masochist; as much as it hurt to be in the Power Chamber, and at home for that matter, he couldn't stay away. No wonder Avalon continued to keep things about the Vipers a secret; it was easier to deal with on her own rather than constantly have to field off questions left and right.

"We understand it was hard to watch your mother's death in front of you like that," Zordon continued. Before Billy could stop himself, he winced. "Especially as it was such a horrible way to do so. But from being around you and the rest of the rangers I understand what the human emotions have to go through and I'm afraid that you haven't done that yourself."

Clenching his hands into fists, Billy tried to stay calm. Was it his fault his mother died? No. Was it his fault that all of his friends were continuing to be rangers when he wasn't? No. Was it his fault they were all trying to get him to talk about things that actually weren't bothering him? No. Not at al. So why couldn't they just leave it alone? It looked like no one understood him when he said he was fine. "I promise there is nothing going on," he said. "I'm just working hard. And considering a lot of people are starting to get on my about that as well, I'm going to go to the sleeping bay and get some rest."

With that, he pushed himself up from his seat and turned on his heel, leaving the Power Chamber through the sliding metal doors. As Billy walked past the holding bay of the Zords extreme fatigue settled into him and he started to shuffle. When had he gotten so tired? He really _had_ been spending a lot of time at the Power Chamber. He made a mental note to take the weekend off so that he could get back on Monday and start things fresh.

His communicator set off and he brought it up to his mouth. "This is Billy, what's going on?" He asked.

"Hey, it's Kat," he heard her say and his nerves immediately calmed down from the fight or flight sense that had kicked in. "I'm sorry, did I call at a bad time? Are you working on something?" The Australian teen was always so apologetic; but this time it was a nice reprieve instead of being confronted all the time.

"No, I was just about to take a break," Billy replied. "What's going on? Is there anything you want me to take a look at? Your zord? Your Power Disc?"

"Nothing like that, mate. No worries. But I did want to ask you about your uncle. You said he owns a cabin up in the mountains?"

Blinking rapidly, Billy hesitated before bringing his fingers back to the side of his communicator. "Yes, he does. Why?"

"Are there any ski resorts anywhere around there? Any place that we can take some time off and go up to the mountains or something? I was thinking that all of us needed a vacation and to get out of Angel Grove for a while. Maybe have some fun when we're not dealing with the Machine Empire; if they follow us up there, which there's a good chance of that happening, then we can give Angel Grove a rest for a while, yeah?"

Billy's eyebrows hiked upwards as he thought about it. That wasn't such a bad idea. He needed a break and everyone else needed one as well.

Getting time away from the Power Chamber would finally give his mind a break, he wouldn't have to be so envious of the others, and maybe he could finally get everyone off his back. Besides, becoming a ranger again was impossible.

* * *

"Okay, so it's not the battery…what in the bloody world is wrong with this thing?" Kat placed her hands on her hips and looked forlornly down at her car. Bringing up a hand, she scratched her forehead and tilted her head to the side. A light groan escaped her lips and she turned around, pouting as she sat on the front end of her car. "What am I going to do now?"

Shielding her eyes from the sun, Kat looked around at the empty student parking lot. The practices for that day had already ended and it didn't seem like anyone else was going to be around to help her. She brightened when she heard Tommy's voice say, "You look like you could use a little help."

Turning around, she watched as he walked over, gym bag hanging off his side and long hair down out of its ponytail. Kat's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as she looked around the parking lot. "What are you doing here, I don't…I don't see your car…" She gazed around the parking lot once more and a light chuckle escaped Tommy's lips.

"That's because I borrowed my uncle's car," he explained, motioning over to an expensive looking convertible sitting towards the end of the parking lot. Kat had admired it on her way out of the school that morning. She hadn't really noticed. "Anyway, what's going on with yours?"

"If I knew that I reckon I wouldn't still be here," Kat pointed out. She gave him a charming smile and turned around, motioning to it. "The battery isn't flat and it looks like I'm still getting power because the lights keep coming on," She said. "Otherwise, I don't know what's going on."

Tommy dropped his gym bag to the ground and pressed his hands against the front of the car, tilting his head to the side as he looked around inside. Kat took step closer to him and took in a breath through her nose, taking in his scent. He smelled like sweat but it wasn't bad, not like BO, as a matter of fact he still smelled like brown sugar, as he always did. Then Tommy reached his hands up to brush his hair back behind his ears and Kat leaned back lightly, but tilted her head the other side, staring at his profile; at the way his lips were a bit fuller in the center and pulled back at the corners, how intense his brown eyes got when he was concentrating on something or fighting against whatever monster was sent down to them, how his nose wrinkled when he was confused about something.

She wanted to do nothing more than lean over and kiss him right there. Long and hard with no one able to see them, where she could just feel. "You know, you're really good at this." She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in to get a good look at the car.

"Yeah, well, I've spent a lot of time with my uncle," Tommy explained, not moving out from beneath her hand. "He's a racer and he's always let me around his cars and stuff. I've helped him restore a few of them a few years ago. It was really cool." He cleared his throat and stood up straight, crossing his arms. "I'm not exactly sure, but it looks like you've got a problem with your engine," he explained. "Especially because you're getting power to everything else in the car."

"That's what I was thinking," Kat agreed. And it was the same thing she had asked her father when she had stopped by her house earlier that afternoon to pick up her car. It didn't seem like he even noticed to remember that she had gotten a ride to school that morning with Tanya and Shawn. So maybe she was being a bit deceitful, but she wanted something like they had, was that so wrong? "But I don't know exactly and now it looks like I'll have to call a tow truck. Or at least wait until my father gets home to see if he can do something with it."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Tommy said, turning around, causing her hand to drop from his shoulder to his wrist. Kat smiled to herself. "I don't see anything that's rubbing against something else and there isn't any burning smells. So it's nothing _that_ bad. It can be fixed once taken to a garage." He rubbed his chin. "If you go to the one down on Orange Avenue, and tell them that I sent you there, you can get some money knocked off."

"Hmm, let me guess," Kat said, flirtatiously tilting her head to the side, blue eyes lighting up. "Your uncle owns the shop?"

Tommy laughed. "No, but there are some family friends that work there. It can get you a good deal."

"That helps heaps," Kat said. She gently rubbed Tommy's hand with her own, smiling as he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he did and didn't mind; he didn't move to pull his hand away. "Thank you so much, Tommy. I don't know what I would've done without your help."

"You're welcome, Kat." Tommy stood up and grabbed his gym bag, slinging it over his shoulder once more. He glanced at her car once more before turning and looking at his car over his shoulder. "Hey, do you want a ride home? I wouldn't want you to sit here and wait for someone to come. I know how long these things can take."

"That'd be great." Kat stood up and grabbed her backpack, falling in step with Tommy as they headed across the parking lot. She noted his gym bag and the sweat that continued to settle in his head. "How was football practice?"

"It was okay," Tommy replied after a minute. "It could've been better. Jason didn't really seem to have his head in the game," he said. "Though I can't really blame him, there's this girl that's been around he's been keeping his eye on. It seems to me that Jason is finally in love." He grinned. "Now I can mess with him as much as he messed with me and Kim."

Kat laughed. "That'd be a sight to see," she said. "He doesn't really seem to be interested in many people."

"Well, there's been a few, but he doesn't talk about it much," Tommy said with an edge to his tone that let Kat know he wasn't going to go into any further details. "Rocky, Adam, and Billy have been playing well, though. I guess they've been putting their heads straight into it; Rocky is trying to block out Aisha leaving, Billy has always been one to put his mind to everything that comes his way, and Adam is just great on the field. I think we can go all the way this year."

"I don't really understand a lot about football, but I have faith in you guys," Kat agreed.

"Thanks, Kat. I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

Kat smiled and moved closer to Tommy's side so that their arms brushed together, sending warm shivers up and down her spine. "You know, I was thinking—"She suddenly cut herself off as cogs appeared in front of her and Tommy. "Cogs!"

"Looks like things guys are eager for a fight after we took down their last one," Tommy said, dropping his bag aside and falling into a fighting stance with Kat following suit. She looked up as there was a bright flash of light and Luxuria appeared in front of them.

"Looks like someone is eager in general!" Luxuria cried, her eyes glowing pink. "Is this a bad time for the lovely couple? I can come back later when you make me stronger."

"We'll just see about that!" Tommy turned and started to fight the cogs that were on his side while Kat turned and did the same.

A million thoughts raced through her head as she went through the motions. Was what she was feeling because of Luxuria? Was she doing anything that was too over the top? Tommy hadn't said anything. _Tommy…_ Kat cried out in pain as a cog hit her directly in the chest and she fell back to the ground. Looking up, she swung her legs to the side and flipped back to her feet, taking a large step forward and punched a cog hard in the chest. "Hiya!"

"Well this is taking long enough," Luxuria said. "Let's get to the good part." She lowered her head, scratched her hoof against the ground, and started running towards the pink ranger.

Throwing herself at Kat, Tommy grabbed her arms and knocked her out of the way. "Look out!" The two landed hard on the ground as Luxuria raced by. She skidded her feet and turned around to face the rangers once more.

"Thanks," Kat said, getting to her feet.

"You're welcome. Are you okay?"

"Perfect, once we get this overgrown shag rug out of the way." Kat pulled out her morpher. "It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger V, Red!"

Once morphed, Tommy and Kat launched themselves into battle once more, taking care of the cogs every which way they turned. Kat divided her attention between the cogs and Luxuria as she alternately charged towards her before taking time to rest. "Zeo Power Disc!" Kat summonsed her weapon and used it to fend off the cogs that flew her way then turned and threw it like a Frisbee towards Luxuria.

Luxuria jumped high out of the way, using her hind legs to back it to the ground. "Nice try," she said. "But not nice enough." She landed hard on the ground and raced forward, crashing right into Kat's stomach. A strangled cry escaped her lips before she found herself flying through the air as Luxuria lifted her head and knocked Kat above her and onto the ground. She landed hard on her back, pain shooting through her body.

"Kat!" Tommy called.

Kat twisted her head to the side to look at him seconds before she was knocked aside again. This time she landed on the ground by her Power Disc. She looked up as there were sudden cries of action and the rest of the rangers arrived. Thankful for the distraction, Kat hurried over to her Power Disc and picked it up. "Hey goat breath!" She called to Luxuria, watching as Tanya was knocked down with a strong kick from the goat monster. "Your problem's with me, not them!"

"Kat, don't!" Avalon cried. "You can't take her on alone."

"Yes, I can," Kat said firmly. This was the third time she had gone up against this monster and she wasn't going to be defeated this time around. "This fight is with me. I'm the only one that can stop her." With that, she raced towards Luxuria and pulled back her Power Disc, throwing it forward and struck the monster in the face. Luxuria snarled and turned her head away with the force of the blow before reeling around and kicked her in the stomach.

Rocky and Adam leapt over Kat and took on Luxuria next, giving the pink ranger time to get back to her feet. But they were knocked down nearly as quickly as Kat was, with Tommy, Avalon, and Tanya taking the next brunt of the attacks. Kat knew for sure that time, Luxuria was strong, stronger than the last time they had seen her, stronger than Acedia had been for Rocky. She didn't know what they were going to do.

Suddenly there was a flash of gold that shot across Luxuria and knocked her to the ground. Kat watched as the gold streak continued to jolt around before finally coming to a stop at the far corner of the parking lot. Her mouth dropped open as she took in the black and Gold Ranger that stood in front of them.

"What?" Tanya cried. "Another ranger."

"How come we didn't know about this one?" Adam asked. "Wouldn't Zordon and Alpha have known about there being another one?"

"I can't believe it," Tommy said. "He saved us…" The rangers all watched as the Gold Ranger turned around, holding onto a large staff that held the same emblem that was on the faceplate of the ranger's helmet. "But who is he?"

"Looks like you could use a little help," The Gold Ranger said then lifted the staff high into the air. There was a sudden golden blast that filled the air, sending lightning bolts around. The biggest of those bolts struck Luxuria, causing her to scream in pain and back away. "Take that!"

Luxuria collapsed down onto the asphalt of the parking lot before shakily getting back to her feet, eyes glowing with rage. "This isn't the last you've seen of me, rangers," she said before disappearing from sight. As soon as she was out of sight, Zordon came onto the communicator; "Rangers, you need to get back to the Power Chamber, now."

"Like we didn't see that coming," Avalon remarked before the rangers teleported. They immediately powered down and she walked over to look at Zordon. "Did you know there was another ranger out there?" She demanded. "Did you know there was another Zeo Crystal?"

"Ava, yelling at him like that isn't going to help matters much," Billy said to her.

Avalon whipped around, her eyes flashing. "I know that, Smurf, but why weren't we aware of there being another ranger out there when they could've bloody helped up fight against the Machine Empire before?"

"Maybe they didn't know," Rocky said with a shrug. "There're a lot of different things out there that we're not sure of, maybe this was one of them."

"'Cause that makes a lot of sense."

"It does, actually," Tanya said, rubbing her neck. "As far as they knew, there were only six pieces to the Zeo Crystal, maybe there was a lot piece or something."

"Rangers, I understand the shock and confusion you must feel," Zordon said. "And all will be revealed in time. However right now it is imperative for us to know who it is that has taken on the powers of the Gold Ranger." With that, all eyes turned towards the Gold Ranger, who stood quietly in the corner of the room.

Kat stared hard at the Gold Ranger before looking to the side and exchanging a glance with Tommy. Who was it going to be? A friend or foe? Someone they've known for a long time or someone new? Tommy gave her an encouraging nod and Kat smiled back, turning back to the Gold Ranger.

"Right." The Gold Ranger powered down and placed her hands on her hips, her chocolate brown eyes moving over the surprised faces of the rest of the rangers. "Name's Evie."


	66. Greed

**Chapter 66**

_Greed_

**A/N:** Ms-Strange Imagination owns the Gold Ranger Evie Caldwell. Her part expands in the next chapter.

* * *

"If there had been another Gold Ranger out there this whole time why did it take em' so long to come to help us?" Rocky asked.

"I'm stuck more on the fact that all of you guys were more preoccupied into thinking the Gold Ranger was a guy, rather than being a girl," Avalon pointed out, crossing her arms and leaned against a control panel behind her.

"Her suit doesn't have a skirt!" Rocky defended himself.

"Neither did Trini's or Aisha's! Are you _just_ noticing that?"

Tommy held up his hand, staving off Rocky's and Avalon's argument and turned back to Evie, who watched them calmly. His eyes narrowed for a second. Evie's eyes shifted then she stared back at Tommy.

"Is there any reason you're staring?" Evie asked him. "I mean, other than realizing that it is possible for girls to be a strong ranger?"

At that, Tommy flushed. He _had_ been the one that had originally commented that the gold ranger was a guy. It must've been a reflex. Not that it was an excuse, but he had become used to having more guys on the team than girls. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "For that mistake. And for staring at you but…you look _really_ familiar. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so," Evie said with a light laugh. "I would have remembered if I had met other rangers."

"Then how did you know we were in trouble?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah and how did you get your powers? I thought there were only six Zeo Crystals. Not seven," Kat added. Her face was twisted into an expression of anxiety and worry. "The big question is, is this something that can help us now? King Mondo now has Rita and Zedd back and God knows Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina are with them. If we can barely handle the Machine Empire by ourselves, how can we handle all of the others?"

Evie didn't answer the question. Instead she shifted her gaze to Zordon and Alpha. Because of this, the rest of the rangers looked over to their mentors as well. Zordon looked at each ranger in turn before speaking. "Rangers, I understand your confusion to the events that have just transpired. But trust that Alpha and I have kept the identity and existence of the Gold Ranger a secret for a reason. Not only for the safety of you, but for the safety of Evie as well. If the Machine Empire or you knew about her before the right time the consequences would be catastrophic."

"She was able to get the Zeo Powers because this is a different sort of Zeo power. It's not from a Zeo Crystal," Alpha added.

"Then what or _where_ is it from?" Avalon asked.

"That's the most important question, Ava," Billy pointed out. He ran a hand through his hair. "As far as I can see, there are always going to be other sources of power that we may not have run into before. The universe is a big place and there are places out there that we couldn't even dream of traveling to. Different planets that even hold other factions of evil we may come across." He shrugged. "I never believed in ghosts and demons until we encountered Diabolicco."

"He's got a point," Adam said. "And so do Zordon and Alpha. There have already been enough people that we've run into or have had in our lives that have come under fire because of their affiliation to us. If there was a reason this was kept a secret then I'm going to believe it was for a good reason." Then he eyed Evie just as closely as Tommy did. "But Tommy's right, you do look very familiar."

"I guess I just have one of those faces," Evie said with a light shrug. Then she smiled. "Or maybe you've come to one of my book signings."

"That's it!" Billy snapped his fingers. "You're Evie Caldwell. The author who writes mysteries inspired by events in her life. You were at the Angel Grove mall a couple of weeks ago." Then his eyes widened slightly. "So you're part of the famous Caldwell family."

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm _famous,"_ Evie said. A modest blush covered her cheeks, causing her light complexion to darken slightly. "My father, Thomas, i _s_ an attorney, and my mother, Geraldine _is_ an artist. And along with my brother and sister, Jay and Amberly, it's what we do and have produced that are more famous than we are in our own right." Then her face turned serious. "You're Billy?" She asked. At his confused expression Evie continued with, "Before my arrival Zordon and Alpha have explained some things to me. They've told me a lot about all of you guys, actually. I was hoping you would be able to help me just as much as I can help you."

"With what?" Tanya asked.

Evie took a deep breath. "With transferring my powers."

"Why do you need to transfer your powers?" Rocky asked.

"Because they're starting to kill me," Evie admitted.

* * *

Avalon dropped a file folder onto the table and sat down across from Jason. He reached out to take the folder and she slapped her hand down on it, pulling it back to her side. "I can't let you see what's inside," She explained. "But I can tell you what it says."

Jason gave her an annoyed look, leaning back in his seat. "So what was the point of us meeting if you're not going to tell me anything?"

"I didn't say anything about not telling you anything I just can't show you this," Avalon explained calmly. "There's some information in here of people I know that could get the both of us in trouble if someone else found out." Her eyes shifted for a moment. "I think you understand what I mean when I say that." Jason nodded then stood up straight.

He looked her right in the eye. "You know I don't blame you for that," he insisted.

"You don't, but I still do. It's going to take me a long time to get over this, Jace. Not just being able to walk down the street without having to think that I should look over my shoulder at every turn because I think someone's going to jump me. Or that the High-Flyers are finally going to get revenge on me because the Vipers are completely gone." Avalon sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. Then she rested her face in her hands for a long moment. "Or that I have to be afraid someone's going to break into my house when I'm asleep, or that one of my friends are going to be attacked by people much worse than the Machine Empire. It's a wonder my nerves aren't completely shot to hell."

There was a long moment of silence and Jason then said, "Look, I'm glad you wanted to help me out. But if you really don't want to do this—"

"Too late," Avalon interrupted. "It's already done." She opened the folder that sat in front of her and cleared her throat. "Okay, so her name checks out; it's Emily Price. She's originally from Los Angeles, moved to Angel Grove a few years ago. Has been running around with that biker crowd almost since she first arrived. The bikers are a few low-level criminals focusing specifically on robbery, but not all of them are that way. As far as I can see, they just want some easy cash and make some trouble. They don't go as far as to do everything else a normal gang does so I think you're safe in that aspect."

"What do you mean?" Jason asked. "Like, what other sort of trouble could they get into?"

"Your father's a lawyer and he hasn't told you anything about the sorts of cases he works on?" The actually surprised Avalon a little bit. As far as she could tell, Caine and Marissa Scott were very open with Jason and were greatly helpful when it came to her possible representation before she was able to get probation and community service. "He hasn't told you anything about mine or what the Vipers have done?"

"The only thing they told me was there were certain places in Angel Grove that I wasn't allowed to go to," Jason explained. "Especially at certain times of the day. If they had told me some things they were trying to shield me from, I might've been able to help you more."

"Okay, now I think it's my turn to say nothing was your fault, mate," Avalon said to him. She gently tapped her fingers against the folder in her hands. "You grew up the way you were supposed to; shielded from things that would do you harm, got good grades, had lots of friends, had fun with said friends, and stuck with martial arts to learn mind, soul, and body to keep you out of trouble. If my mum or dad would've done the same thing rather than what _they_ wanted."

"Yeah, but your mum is here in Angel Grove now," Jason pointed out. "She's trying to make things better. And your father finally told Dana so now you have a half-sister that you can commiserate with." He reached out and gently grasped Avalon's hand. "And you have us. And we're always going to be there for you and Bay, whenever you need it."

"And now you need my help, Rudolph," Avalon agreed. She pulled her hand away from his. "No worries. I'm going to help you as much as I can. I'm willing to take the consequences."

"Did you get into contact with Chase for this?"

"No, and either way I can't tell you who I got this information from." Avalon cleared her throat, shuffling the papers. "Trust me when I say this information is all legit and it's what you were hoping for. Some of the people within that biker gang don't even know the others are criminals. Other than what happened at the bookstore all they do is hang out at the pool hall and ride around town, making trouble. Damaging stores, harassing people, making threats…nothing that would allow them to _actually_ go to jail because so many people are intimidated. But this is California, mate, there always seems to be some sort of trouble going on around here. With the monsters gangs are the least of our troubles."

"Does she have anything to do with any of the robberies they've done? The one in the bookstore?" Jason finally asked. He seemed to have gotten the point that Avalon wasn't going to push further on the topic of her own past.

"The leader, Eddie, he's been trying to get her to be a full member," Avalon explained. "Kind of like the initiations and hazing you go through with real gangs. But these guys are just petties. We stopped her before she could so anything with the bookstore, but as long as she has been in the biker gang she hasn't done anything else. So, honestly, mate, I don't think she really wants to be there." Avalon closed the folder and looked Jason in the eye. "If there's anyone that can talk her out of it, I think it's you. She already seemed ashamed when you caught her at the bookstore that day. I think she's just caught up in what she's doing and doesn't actually want to do it."

"Okay. That's good then." Jason nodded.

He leaned back in his seat, bringing a hand up to his mouth. Avalon watched as his eyebrows furrowed together in thought. It was the same intense expression that came to his face whenever he was practicing martial arts as well as when he was fighting monsters and whatever other faction of evil that made their appearance in Angel Grove. If there was one thing that could be said about Jason, it was that he had an incredibly sense of justice.

 _Okay, clearly he's going to need to be pushed on this,_ Avalon thought. "So if you ask her out, I'm pretty sure she'll say 'yes'."

Startled at her sudden statement, Jason flinched and turned her way. "What are you talking about?"

"The fact that you turn into a babbling idiot whenever she's around you, boofhead," Avalon pointed out. "The first time was at Ernie's where she pretty much put you in your place, yeah? And the second time was when you were at the bookstore and watching her like a creep."

"I wasn't watching her like a creep."

"Then what would you call it?"

Jason hesitated. He chewed his lower lip then crossed his arms. "I was _observing_ her because I wanted to be sure she wasn't going to rob your store."

"How noble of you, Rudolph." Avalon smirked and slouched down in her seat. "But I don't think she'd be very pleased to know that you were sticking your nose in her business. Or that you were afraid to talk to her. But I don't blame you; a girl that beautiful…whoever gets her is going to be lucky." She nudged her foot with his. "Even luckier if it's you."

"Yeah, yeah…" Jason trailed off as he frowned. All of a sudden he looked incredibly insecure before reaching out and running his finger over a scratch in the table. "Do you think she'd want to go on this ski trip with us? I mean, she barely knows anyone and I'll suddenly be jumping in to do it." He paused and looked over at Avalon, who raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Just to be sure she stays far away from Eddie and the rest of the biker gang."

"Right, I'm sure that's the reason." Avalon shrugged. "Something tells me that Emily will be doing her best to get away from Angel Grove and those guys for a while. So some guy that she's talked to a few times asking her to get away wouldn't be that far of a stretch." She looked at her watched before getting to her feet. "I have to meet with some other people before going back to pack. If there's anything else you need to know…her favorite color, favorite flower, things she prefers to eat, where she likes to go on a date, just let me know." She laughed, backing away from the table folder in hand.

"That's not funny, Avie!" Jason called after her.

Avalon waved her hand in reply and walked to the parking lot of the restaurant. She climbed into the driver's seat of Billy's truck—grumbling along the way as she had to adjust the seat and make sure the phonebook she was sitting on was high enough—before driving to the other part of the city. Pulling up to the front of the apartment complex she cut the ending and grabbed the canvas bag that sat in the passenger seat. She went to the same apartment she had been visiting nearly once a day and knocked on the door.

Bulk opened it with one hard pull and looked down at the Orange Zeo Ranger with a strained expression. She even noticed his face nor his eyes lit up when she handed over the bag of food to him. "Hey Avalon," he greeted her. His voice was subdued, not boisterous as usual. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," She replied slowly. "How's it going with you?" Her eyes shifted behind him, looking through the small apartment. "Where's Skull and Sharky?" Bulk took in a deep breath and glanced over his shoulder. "What's going on, mate? You look like you're about to throw up."

"You might want to come inside."

Bulk took a step back and allowed Avalon into the apartment. She glanced at him before stepping inside. Looking around she noticed the apartment was much cleaner than it had been before. Before, with the three friends living together it had been filled with trash and other belongings the three managed to accumulate in such a small space. Now it looked like someone had spent hours if not days going through everything in a cleaning binge. Avalon looked over to the couch where Skull and Sharky were sitting on opposite ends, doing their best not to look at each other. They looked up when Avalon entered the apartment with Bulk.

Instead of the cheerful greetings she normally received whenever visiting, this time she was welcomed with silence. Eyebrows lowering, Avalon looked at the three then back to Sharky and Skull. Sharky lowered her head, but not before Avalon caught sight of the tears in her eyes. Then she looked at Skull and he looked back at her before looking away.

"What's going on?" She asked. "You guys are acting really weird."

"We're having some…monetary problems," Bulk explained. "We're not sure we're going to be able to continue paying rent and living here."

 _Oh. Bugger._ Avalon's eyebrows rose. That was a problem. Bulk and Skull had managed to turn their lives around from being high school bullies to being respectable police officers. She knew they didn't make a lot of money, but things were already tough with the two of them living there with Sharky. And now it was going to get worse? What else did they need? "What do you mean? Have you tried talking to Lt. Stone?"

"Lt. Stone can't do anything more than try to increase our salary but even then that's still not a lot," Skull explained. He brought up his hands and roughed them through his hair. "Not for food, not for clothes…not for…everything we're going to need."

"I don't get it," Avalon said slowly. "How is that not enough money? You've been able to live this long so far," she pointed out.

Skull took a deep breath and lifted his head once more. "It's going to last a little bit. But then expenses will come up. We don't have anyone to help. We need both of us working but within the next couple of months…" Skull reached out and grabbed onto Sharky's hand, holding it firmly in his own. She smiled sadly at him. "We're going to work as hard as we can; we're going to make this work. But it's going to take a lot…a lot of help." He sniffed loudly and looked up at Avalon once more.

He took a deep breath.

"Sharky's pregnant," he said to Avalon. "And I'm the father."

* * *

Tanya hummed to herself as she moved through her room, gathering all of her snow things together. Honestly, it wasn't a lot. But with what Shawn had given her, there was plenty for her to work with. Tanya stopped packing and smiled down at her gifts. This was great; she had moved to Angel Grove, made a lot of great friends, and had a boyfriend that loved to pamper her. And she loved to be pampered. She never used to be that kind of girl; her parents had raised her to be someone that didn't put too much value in things over family and friends.

 _But they didn't have someone like Shawn._ Tanya smiled and stretched her arms over her head, then winced as her shoulder blazed with pain. Bringing her hand up, Tanya ran her fingers along the spot, knowing the bruise she had was in the shape of fingers. Okay, so Shawn wasn't exactly perfect. But he didn't really mean to hurt her. He had apologized profusely after she had stated he was hurting her. Then he had gone out and bought her a new pair of earrings to prove to her things were okay.

And they were definitely going to be even more awesome now that Shawn was coming with them on their ski trip. When Kat had suggested the idea to the rangers Tanya had been the first one to agree to do it. She had never see snow before other than in movies and TV, and she had certainly never seen a snow _fall._ Avalon and Bailey had quickly vetoed the idea claiming they both absolutely hated the cold before Rocky talked them into it. Adam had only agreed once Kat explained everything that the trip entailed; Billy's uncle's cabin was too far away from the resort they wanted to go to, but managed to get a deal on the rangers and their friends to stay there for the weekend for an affordable price. Because of that, Adam said it would be a good idea, Fred mentioned he was excited to try it out, and the rest of the rangers fell suit.

Tanya immediately invited Shawn to go along and he agreed to go, saying it would be plenty of time for them two of them to have some time alone together. And if there was something Tanya was eager about, it was time alone. When they got the chance to be alone together Shawn showed a side of himself that no one else saw; he was sweet and sensitive and said all the right things. It was when he was around everyone else that he became intimidated and sort of…mean. Even she noticed that.

"Tanya, are you ready to go?"

She could hear Adam's voice calling her from downstairs. "Yeah, I'm ready. I just need some help bringing this stuff downstairs."

"No problem." Adam walked up to her room and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw everything piled up on her bed and on the floor. "Did you rob a store?" Tanya gave him a look and he held his hands up defensively. "No offense, Tanya, but you're tiny. I don't expect you to be able to smuggle a lot of things out of here. Nor do I think of you as a thief."

He smiled, blushed, and looked away at the complement.

"Thanks." Tanya reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing it. "That's sweet. But, no, Shawn gave these to me."

"Some of these are brand new," Adam pointed out, tugging at the sleeve of one jacket. He then glanced at the tag, his eyes widening even further. "And very expensive. Why would he give these to you when they're just brand new?"

"Um. Because I'm his girlfriend." Tanya pressed her lips together as she watched Adam continue to go through all of her winter clothes and jackets. "And he likes to spoil me." At those words, Adam stood up and stared at her. Then he shook his head and grabbed the handle of a bag that sat near her. "What?"

"Nothing." The Green Zeo ranger moved towards the door but Tanya reached out a hand, grabbing onto the handle, wrapping her hand around his. His hand was warm, soft and soothing. Compared to Shawn's which was normally dry, rough, and resembled a weapon when coming at her with speed Adam made her feel comfortable. Tanya frowned. A friend was supposed to do that, right? But Shawn was her boyfriend; he was supposed to make her feel over the moon.

And he did make her feel good, when he wasn't yelling at her and claiming she was making him angry on purpose. But this was different. Adam made her feel safe.

 _It's just because he's a ranger, Tanya,_ She reminded herself. _Just like you. You know he can handle himself and protect everyone that needs it. That's all._

"No, what is it?" Tanya insisted.

"It's just…" Adam trailed off, looking away for a moment. "I guess I just don't get why you two are together. He doesn't really seem like he's your type. All he does is give you stuff and you willingly take it and I can't help but wonder…" he trailed off.

Tanya tightened her grip on his hand. "Can't help but wonder what?"

"I can't help but wonder if you just like the things he's giving you. And if that's the case, if it's really _you_ or if it's from one of the SDS Monsters that are having some of their power dealing with you. Just like it had been with Rocky and the monster of Sloth. Or Kat and the monster of Lust."

Tanya felt her temper flare. How dare he criticize her like that? "And what about you? You were attacked by one of them, too and you don't' see me accusing you of doing anything wrong."

"I'm not accusing you," Adam defended himself. "I'm worried about you. I just want to be sure you're okay."

"And you're jealous! Jealous that I'm dating someone as great as Shawn and you don't even have a girlfriend!" She grabbed the bag from Adam's hand. "Don't bother helping me! I can get it done myself. Or else you think I'm so greedy I'm just trying to take that from you, too."

"That's not what I meant—"

Tanya turned on her heel and stormed out of her room. She went downstairs and threw her bag into the back of his car before storming back up to get everything else. In the meantime, Adam slunk out of her room and waited for Tanya to finish putting everything away. Then they drove to Angel Grove high where they met up with the others—minus Billy who said he would meet them up at the resort later after he got more information about the gold ranger, then started the drive up to the ski resort, arriving in under two hours.

"It's cold," Bailey complained as soon as she stepped into the lobby of the resort. Bundled up in a purple sweatshirt and a matching beanie, she shoved her hands into her armpits. "Couldn't we go to a resort where it was warm?"

"Then it wouldn't be skiing or snowboarding, Bay," Fred pointed out to her. "That'd be surfing."

"I should've voted for that."

"Oh come on guys, this is going to be fun," Kat said, turning to everyone with a reassuring smile. She glanced over her shoulder where Tommy was checking everyone in then turned back to them. "And I thought this would be a good way for Tommy to get over his breakup with Kim. So _please_ try to have a good time. For him?"

Rocky's eyes narrowed as she stared at her. "Oh yeah? What about me?"

Kat blinked in surprise at the blue ranger then flushed in embarrassment. "I know you just broke up with Aisha, but you seemed like you were getting over it pretty well, yeah?"

"Oh, I get it. No one cares about what I feel. No one cares that I might just be as upset about 'Sha as Tommy is about Kim. Nobody—"

"Sorry, Rocky, did you say something?" Avalon asked sarcastically. "I wasn't listening." She moved to his side and put her arm around him. "Don't worry about it, you can hang out with me and Bay while we protest the injustice that is being forced into the cold against our will. You can join our pity party." She laughed as Rocky tilted his head and rested it on her shoulder.

"Hey everyone." The group turned as Jason walked over to them. He grinned as he motioned to a blonde girl standing next to her. "This is Emily Gold. Emily, these are my friends Kat, Tanya, her boyfriend Shawn, Adam, Rocky, Tommy is over there, Fred, Bailey, and Avalon." He pointed to each of them in turn. "Don't worry, they're not all as crazy as they look."

"Hey," Emily said, sort of shyly. "It's nice to meet all of you. Thank you so much for inviting me up here…even though I don't know you."

"It's no problem at all," Kat said with a warm smile. "The more the merrier. The point is that we're all supposed to have a vacation and take some time away from Angel Grove…and try not to kill ourselves snowboarding and skiing."

"Has anyone here actually gone skiing before?" Adam asked.

"I have." Shawn stuck his hand into the air then smirked over at the green ranger. "My parents would take us up to ski every winter. Actually, I've entered a few competitions and have managed to make a few contest wins while I was at it."

"Wow, that's awesome, Shawn!" Tanya said. She smirked over at Adam before giving Shawn a kiss on the cheek. Shawn gave a pained smile and pushed Tanya away from him, straightening out his clothes. Tanya's gaze lowered to the floor.

"Okay, we've all got our rooms," Tommy said as he joined the group. "Shawn has his own room beause it's underneath his parents' name, then Jason, Billy and I are going to share once Billy gets here, Rock, Adam, and Fred are going to share, Tanya and Kat have a room, Avalon and Bailey have a room, and Emily I remembered you said you wanted your own room so there's your key." Tommy passed out all of the card keys to the room and held onto the one that was for him, Jason and Billy.

"Thanks," Emily said with a grateful smile. "It's not like I didn't want to be around you guys. I just like my privacy. That's all." She missed Jason shoot Avalon a glance, which she returned with a raised eyebrow and a roll of her eyes. "And again, thanks for letting me come on this trip with you."

"Well, trust me when I say if there was anyone that needed a break the most, it's definitely us," Rocky said.

Adam turned and glared at him and the blue ranger shrugged in reply. Everyone gathered their things together and started up to their rooms. Tanya started to gather her things but Shawn stopped her. "Hey, the rest of them can get that." He nodded his head towards the rangers. "C'mon, I wanted to show you something."

"Okay." Tanya took Shawn's outstretched hand and he took her up to the room he was going to be staying it. It was definitely nicer than what everyone else had for a room; a room that looked like a presidential suite overlooking the slopes. Tanya gasped and hurried over to the window, pressing her hands against it as she watched the skiers and snowboarders go downhill. "Wow, this is great!"

"Get your hands off the glass!" Shawn roughly grabbed her upper arm and pulled her off the window. Tanya cried out in pain and backed away from the window. "Damn, it's like you don't have any sense sometimes." He dropped his hand from her arm and sighed. "Anyway, while we're out here there's probably going to be a lot of guys that are around and I wanted you to remember that you're my girl and no one else's."

Tanya's face screwed up. "Shawn, I only want to go out with _you_."

"I know, but there are many guys that want to go out with you, too. Like Adam."

"Adam doesn't want to date me. He's dating…or _was_ dating Sabrina," Tanya said. "He's going over a breakup, just like Tommy and Rocky are. If anything those three are going to be hanging out together." But she felt a little excited knowing that Adam may like her. How bad was it that two guys liked one girl? It could be fun.

"Yeah, but still I got you something," Shawn said.

Tanya's eyes immediately lit up. "What is it? A necklace? A bracelet? Another watch? I really liked the last one you gave me." The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them, eyes glowing a bright yellow.

Shawn gave her a funny look. "Geez, I never knew you to be so damn greedy, Tanya," he remarked. "But you are my girl and you deserve the best." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small diamond ring. Tanya eagerly grabbed it and slid it onto her ring finger. Then she threw her arms around Shawn's neck and gave him a kiss.

"Ha ha! That's just what we need!" Avaritia cried. Its long tongue came flying out of its mouth. He glowed a bright yellow, growing in size as he did so. "Even more power." The toad hopped around towards King Mondo. "I can handle this, boss. Send me down with Luxuria, we can tear the pink and yellow rangers apart!"

"Now that they're out of Angel Grove it'll make it harder for them to be able to fight back," Luxuria agreed. "There're too many people around on the mountain not to mention they have people with them that aren't rangers."

"These close quarters are romantic as well," Luxuria agreed. "Plenty of time for Katherine to continue making me stronger. And for Tanya to help out Avaritia."

"You two make a good point," King Mondo agreed. He rubbed his chin and shifted his staff forward. "Go down there, keep lying in wait until you're sure you can't be defeated. And take Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina with you. We need to show those rangers they have nothing to fear but us! Even if we have to take some innocent civilians out of the way while we do it."


	67. Pride

**Chapter 67**

_Pride_

**A/N:** Ms-Strange Imagination owns the Gold Ranger Evie Caldwell.

* * *

"It appears that your powers are indeed deteriorating your life force," Billy commented, removing a flashlight from Evie's eyes. He took a step back and crossed his arms as he gazed at her. "Though I'm not quite sure as to the reasoning behind it. You said this only just started?"

Evie nodded, rubbing the back of her neck. She looked around at the Power Chamber, letting out a low breath. Part of her was glad the other rangers were gone on their ski trip so she didn't have to worry about them all breathing down her neck with question after question. (Though she did find it funny how—Rocky was the blue one, right?—the boys really got reamed by the girls for assuming she, as the gold ranger, was a boy). But another part of her sort of wanted them around, so she could get to know them and see what sort of abilities they had as rangers. Before jumping into their fight they looked like they could hold their own for the most part, until the monsters overpowered them. By that point she didn't have a choice but to help them out.

They couldn't be destroyed or else her shot at life would be ripped away before she could even come to terms with it.

"Right. I started out strong, able to feel the change within my body when I received the powers. And, honestly, I think it's what helped me get through my day sometimes. Even my family had noticed the change; we're really close."

"Did you tell them about your new abilities?" Billy asked.

Evie nodded. "I had seen the other rangers out there a lot and I wondered why I had taken on the chance of being a ranger as well. They always seemed to be able to handle things on their own."

"Then how come you never revealed yourself to us before?" Billy sank against a control panel. His blue-green eyes narrowed as he watched her. "We could've helped you sooner; you could've helped us in battle."

"Because I was looking for a cure," Evie explained. "Looking for a way to reverse what was going on." She cleared her throat. "Every time I morphed, trying to help out, something would go wrong. The first few times, it took so much out of me that I couldn't stay morphed for too long."

"Yeah, the new surge of power can do that," Billy admitted. It hadn't happened to the other rangers in the same way. The only thing that had happened was the tiredness hitting them after battle. The first night he had fallen straight into bed and slept as soundly as he ever had before. It got better after that but even some of the strongest battles would render them exhausted. "But it happened when you morphed the first few times? What about when you would dimorph?"

"The same thing. At first. But then I continued to get stronger and stronger. I've wanted to help out with the fights and every now and then I had taken down some stray cogs that managed to get lose. But then there was…the other thing." She stretched her arms. "As strong as I was there were other side effects that I started to exhibit. At random times I'd be weak, even if I didn't fight and there'd be a golden glow surrounding my body. Other times I'd wake up gasping for air in the middle of the night as if I stopped breathing. Other times I'd randomly pass out. I went to the doctor even though I couldn't exactly tell them what was going on. I took tests. Things aren't going well."

Evie took a deep breath through her nose. "Then Zordon and Alpha got in contact with me."

"We recognized her power signature through the morphing grid and teleported her down here," Alpha explained.

"Right. And they explained to me what was going on, who they were, and I told them what was going on with me. It was then they explained that my powers came from a distant planet."

"How'd you get them in the first place?" Billy asked.

This time, Evie managed a smiled. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," she said. "But at the same time, all of this is so strange it's not like we're on short supply of believability. It was when you had all come through with the Zeo Powers for the first time; where Goldar, Scorpina, and the Tengas were rounding up as many people. My family and I had been captured and there was a sudden earthquake—"

"—that had to have been when the Zeo Crystals first revealed themselves," Billy commented.

"You're correct, Billy," Zordon agreed. "Just like with other power ranger powers of yore, the Zeo Powers were known throughout the galaxies. Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile had been searching for them but they revealed themselves to you first, just as the Gold Powers revealed themselves to Evie."

"As I've said I was told my body was starting to deteriorate. But I was interested to know _why_ and knowing that the Gold Zeo powers were from the galaxies as the rest of the Zeo Ranger powers were…I needed to know what was going on. Through some of my parents' contacts I managed to speak to General Norquist at NASADA. Are you familiar with NASADA?"

"I am," Billy agreed.

"General Norquist was the one that pointed me towards the research that explained about different life forms out there," Evie explained. "Like the space dumpster that was recovered and released Rita Repulsa onto Angel Grove. Or the museum that held the—"

"—Azurite Healiodore," Billy interrupted.

"Right. And I knew things were even more serious than I originally thought. Then I ran into you guys and here I am."

Billy nodded. "And transferring your powers is the only way that'll save your life? What'll happen to the person the powers are transferred to? And how do we do it?"

"Hopefully the transfer will take to another human who is willing to take the power," Zordon explained. "As for how the transfer is done, we are not sure of at the moment. But it is imperative that you take it very seriously as we don't know if King Mondo and the rest of the Machine Empire, and Rita and Zedd already know of her existence and are planning an attack after her. We need to be diligent with this information and of Evie's identity."

"Right, Zordon." Standing up, Billy ran his hands over his face. Then he started to pace back and forth. Evie watched as he continued to walk around in circles. Finally, he came to a stop. "Right now the best thing we can do is continue to monitor her energy levels before, during, and after a morph. The better we can see the fluctuation the better we can figure out what to do for a transfer. Zordon, Alpha, please don't hesitate to contact me if something comes up that we should be aware of."

"I've been watching my levels for a while now," Evie interrupted. "It's the same thing each time. But the longer I'm morphed, the longer the exhaustion sets in the next couple of days." She tilted her head to the side, tapping her chin. "I've changed my diet to make sure I've gotten enough nutrients and protein to combat it, but there's only so much that can be done that way. What I really need is a transfer," she wisely insisted. "And the sooner we find a candidate the sooner we can make sure that Angel Grove isn't burned to the ground. Or crushed or stomped or whatever it is the monster of the week is going to do."

"And we can do that after we tell the others what's going on," Billy insisted. "If you've been working on this for so long something tells me you haven't had a time to relax for a while and I think some time at the slopes or at least at the spa will be good for you."

Evie blinked rapidly in surprise. The conversation topic had done a complete one-eighty. "What…well, I mean; I don't want to intrude on what's going on with you and your friends."

"You're not intruding at all. We all deserve some time off and it's safer for you to be around the rest of us while we figure out what's going on." Billy gave her a small smile as he raised his wrist, communicator facing upwards. "I just hope you're used to teleporting."

Evie smiled back.

###

Tommy's eyes narrowed as he straightened up from putting on his snow boots. Tilting his head to the side he watched through the open door of his and Jason's room as Fred and Bailey talked quietly to each other in the hallway. Fred said something that made Bailey laughed and he grinned, adjusting the brim of his hat before tilting his head in the opposite direction. Which Bailey nodded to and the young teens disappeared from sight.

Then Avalon suddenly appeared in front of him and he blinked, jerking his head backwards. Avalon glanced over her shoulder where Fred and Bailey had just been then turned back to Tommy with an amused smirk. "Don't tell me that you're watching Bailey like a hawk now, Tommo."

"Okay, then I won't," Tommy replied.

"This sure seems familiar," Jason remarked from the other side of the room where he finished fastening his snowboard boots. "I remember Trini and I had the same conversation about Kim at one point." He shrugged. "I guess I should've paid more attention the _last_ guy she went out with had a strange obsession with the color green."

"Mm, at least he doesn't have a flashing red bulb at the end of his nose, yeah?" Avalon shot back to him.

"I think you're starting to run out of your not-so-funny-jokes, Avie," Jason shot back. He stood up, picking up his snowboard from beside him. "Are you going to join us on the slopes?"

"And have you pump me for more information on Emily? I don't think so, mate. I've already told you everything I need to know. Don't make me chaperone your dates, too." She took a step back and swung out her arm, giving Jason a wide birth as he left the room, sticking his tongue out at her as he went by.

Tommy chuckled, resting his hands on his knees as he watched her. "You really have to quit it with those nicknames, Av," he pointed out. "You know it gets under his skin."

"That's why I do it," Avalon pointed out. "And besides, it's an Aussie tradition to give your closest friends nicknames. Now I'm trying to figure one out for Rocky before he starts to whinge about not having one, and Fred, too."

 _Speaking of Fred…_ Tommy wondered what he was up to with Bailey. The two of them weren't sharing a hotel room, that wasn't going to happen over his dead body. Buts since he had caught them making out instead of doing homework he couldn't help but watch them a bit closer. Now that Bailey wasn't a ranger she had more time to spend with her boyfriend and her friends and her schoolwork. She was happier, he could see that, but he was still suspicious. How close were the two getting? Where were they in their relationship? Where was the next place they could go?

"Oh, please don't tell me that you're going to stalk Bay this entire trip," Avalon said, noticing the look on his face.

"I'm not," Tommy defended himself. "I'm just going to watch her. That's what big brothers are for." Avalon's face fell slightly as she snorted, crossing her arms.

"I used to think that's what big sisters were for," she said. "But Bay hasn't needed me to look out for her for a long time. It's like she doesn't need me at all anymore."

"C'mon Av, Bay needs you," Tommy reassured her. "You were the one that took care of her the entire time you two were on your own. You protected her. And she's really grateful for it. Just because the two of you aren't in the same predicament, just because there've been more people brought into your life now doesn't mean she doesn't need you just as much as she did before."

"I guess."

Tommy watched as Avalon twisted her fingers together, gently twisting the toes of her shoe into the ground. "Is something going on, Av? You've been acting really weird lately. More…I don't know, secretive or something."

"Have you called Kim lately?" Avalon blurted out her question so quickly that it caused Tommy to react to the sudden onslaught of noise with a flinch. "Have you talked to her? I reckon she's busy but…well, maybe I can ask you." Tommy shrugged and waited as she crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to him. For the two years that Tommy had known Avalon, and for the short amount of time he had been her adopted brother, the orange ranger looked scared if not anxious. "How did you and Kim know you were in love with each other?"

Tommy's eyebrows rose. He didn't really have to think about it, as far as he was concerned he may have been in love with Kim since he met her. There was just something about her that stood out, her heart maybe. She had a heart that was full of love and compassion for everyone she came across, even for those that didn't deserve it. Her laughter was infectious, she had a smile for just about every occasion, and she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. But he truly fell in love with her because of how hard she tried to show him that no matter whether or not he was the evil green ranger she would be there to help him.

He had no idea when she had fallen in love with him, but was beyond ecstatic when she admitted she was.

"I don't know, Av," he said honestly. "It's just something you feel. It's different from the love you have for your family as that is conditional." Avalon gave him a look and he continued with, "depending on the circumstances. But loving someone else, the entirety of someone else and getting that love back in return…it's the best feeling in the world."

"Oh." Avalon nodded.

"Why? Do you—"Then Tommy cut himself off. Oh. _Oh!_ That was it. _That_ was why she had been acting so weird lately. And it wasn't anything anyone else would've noticed during their busy days. It was during their downtimes that he especially noticed it; she was quieter than normal, looked off into space, easily distracted, "I get it."

"Get what?" she seemed evasive.

"You're in love with Billy aren't you?" Tommy asked. Avalon opened her mouth to protest then cut herself off, looking away from him. Her long hair covered her face but Tommy could see the embarrassed flush that covered her freckled cheeks. "You _are_ aren't you? And you're going to tell him?"

"I don't know," Avalon admitted. "I think so. But I haven't felt like this about a guy before, not even Chase. I've been trying to tell him but I don't know how."

"Just tell him, Av. The worst thing he could do is laugh and you and I both know that he's not going to laugh at you. He really cares about you, too, Av. I don't know anyone that would be willing to open their house to someone else they don't really know, or stayed up waiting when you were still with the Vipers, or helped with homework, or…take a shining to someone like Billy does for you."

Avalon turned back to him, nose wrinkling. "Take a shining to?" she repeated.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of me all you want but I know what I'm talking about. I promise." He reached out and ruffled her hair, causing her to make a sound of protest, shoving him on the arm. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go snowboarding."

"You mean you're going to find Bay, tell her that she's going snowboarding, and watch her all day," Avalon corrected him, glad the conversation had shifted away from her.

"Pretty much." Tommy grabbed his snowboard from beside his bed and tucked it under his arm. "You're welcome to wait for Billy here."

"I would but I told Tanya and Kat that I would go with them to see what the shopping is like," Avalon said. "I may lo…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "I may really like Smurf but my love for shopping is a bit higher than that." She gave Tommy a quick hug. "I'll see you later, bro. And thanks for the help," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome, Av," Tommy replied. He followed Avalon out of the room, making sure he had his card key with him, and went down to the lobby of the lodge. He couldn't help but congratulate himself as he went. As he walked through he looked around to find his young sister and friend. Due to his distraction he didn't notice a blonde girl not much older than him heading his way until he walked right into her.

Tommy quickly back peddled a few steps and turned towards the girl. She adjusted the beanie that covered her ears and looked up at him in surprise. "I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"That seems about right," Jason commented as he and Emily walked up, already dressed in their snow clothes. Jason had a snowboard under his arm while Emily held a pair of skis. Both of them had a badge around their neck. "You're clumsier now than you ever have been."

"If that's the case, I'd hate to see if you get even worse," the girl commented.

Emily looked at her for a moment before she looked at the bulletin board to her right. Then her blue eyes widened, red lips pulling back in a smile as she addressed the girl. "Hey, you're Heather Thompson aren't you?" She asked. "

"Yeah, that's right," Heather agreed.

"Hi, I'm Jason." Jason reached out his hand and shook hers firmly. "And these are my friends Emily and Tommy."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Heather said. She then noticed their equipment. "Are you about to go out?" She smiled. "Are you headed up to the Widow Maker? Or are you going to hang around the bunny slopes for a while?"

"Well, I don't have a lot of experience on my skis so I think I'll stick with the bunny slopes," Emily said, though she didn't look embarrassed to admit it. "But I've heard you're supposed to be really good. It's no surprise that you're headed up to the Widow Maker."

'I'm not _that_ good."

"No, she's right," Tommy broke in. He closed his eyes, trying to remember her credentials. "You're one of the youngest to have ever gone pro and even then you've won a lot of competitions, even at the amateur level. I've read about you in the newspaper."

Heather's face turned a little pink. "Embarrassing isn't it? It's like I can't have some fun around here without people just wanting to stop and stare." She gave Tommy a meaningful look. "Or, you know, know everything about me."

"Well, not _everything_ ," he quickly corrected himself.

"But he's not above wanting to know more," Jason interrupted with an amused smile. "If u don't mind waiting with us while we get warmed up, I'm sure you two can get to know each other better." Tommy turned towards Jason with a glare, and Jason just smiled back in a trust-me-bro-I-know-what-I'm-doing way.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. It's always more fun to snowboard with other people rather than being watched all the time." She tilted her head towards the doors of the lodge and the group started to walk over.

Tommy held back and grabbed onto Jason's arm, pulling him to a stop. "What are you doing?" He demanded, out loud this time.

Jason's grin was starting to irritate him. "C'mon, bro, you could use some good, harmless fun."

"The same harmless fun you're trying to have going on with Emily?"

Jason at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Okay, maybe not the _same_ sort of fun. But fun. This is a vacation for all of us and you, too. I just want to make sure you're not wasting your time away pining over someone that's not here."

 _He's right,_ Tommy thought. _You're a good catch. You've excelled at every type of martial arts you've tried, you get good grades in school, you're a good son, a good brother, and an excellent team leader. You've led the rangers into as many winning battles as anyone. There's no one else that's better than you._

_/Other than me./_

The other voice came into Tommy's head so quickly that it startled him. He hadn't heard the voice of the evil green ranger for a long time. He thought it was gone. But now it was back with a vengeance. He could feel it looming inside him. That was okay, he had dealt with the green ranger before, he could do it again.

 _The green ranger will never win against me,_ Tommy thought. _I'm too strong. Too powerful. Too good a leader to lose to likes of him._ With that thought, Tommy felt something strange wash over him and he grinned. _I'm the best._

"Hey," Emily called over her shoulder. "Are you boys coming or what?"

"Or are you scared of the Widow Maker?" Heather added.

"Us?" Tommy asked. His eyes glowed. "We're not scared of anything."

###

Shall we send a different monster out now?" Queen Machina asked. "I'm thinking one that can use the snow to its advantage. Anything so that we can finally get a win against these rangers," she pointed out.

"No, that's not the way we're going this time," King Mondo declared. He turned around and crossed the floor of the large chamber to his wife. "My dear, we're going to make sure that the rangers understand how terrifying these monsters can be. They have unmistakable powers that no one can even believe. As it is, we need to be sure they understand that we've been going easy on them so far."

"So you're going to be sending Superbia back out again?"

"Exactly."

"Honey," Queen Machina said slowly. "I don't think you understand—"

"I don't think _you_ understand!" King Mondo whipped around and glared at his wife. Steam started to fly from his ears as rage bubbled up through his stomach. "I don't think you understand just how badly I want this Earth to be crushed. Just how much I want the rangers to be little ants I can step on, just like all the others that have begged for my mercy. Do you _really_ think that I need Rita, Zedd, and Maser Vile to help us out? Pah!" He gestured violently with his staff. "They're peanuts compared to what I have planned. No, my dear, Earth is our next conquest."

Queen Machine raised a metallic eyebrow as her husband started to pace the floor. "Are you sure about that sweetheart?"

"As sure as I am that my heart is cold and made of metal," King Mondo replied. "No, we need them for our big plan to take over. They're our pawns. The rangers won't know what hit them once they see what the seven deadly sins monsters can do. The monster of Sloth...that was a test. This one, this one will show its real power just as Luxuria and Avaritia couldn't."

"What would you like me to do?"

"I'd like you to send down Superbia. Then I want you to bring Rita, Zedd, and Vile to me. Make sure Prince Sprocket, Prince Gasket, and Archerina don't hear what we have to say. They don't need to know what's going on until we need them 100%. This red ranger…we're going to target him. Make sure that he understands he's powerless against us. Even if this monster is defeated, he'll be ours. Soon he's going to work for us."

"Yes, my dear." Queen Machine walked over to her husband and planted a kiss on his cheek. "As you wish. You know it is with great pleasure to make sure that your wishes are my command. I do love you."

"I love you, too, my queen," King Mondo replied.

Queen Machina left the chamber and walked out to the platform that overlooked Earth. She gave Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile their instructions before going over to Superbia. The peacock sat in the corner, gently running his wingtips over his tail feathers, only looking up as Queen Machina approached. "Yes my lady?" He asked her. "To what do I owe this pleasure? Am I going back onto the battlefield?"

"Yes, you are," Queen Machina replied. "We want you to destroy the red ranger or die trying. Make it as hard for them as possible."

"I can do that," Superbia agreed. He flapped out his wings as he glowed. "You see that? I've been glowing like this all afternoon. These puny Power Rangers don't seem to understand the more they feel their greed, the stronger we become. It's only a matter of time until we're invincible."

That _had_ been what King Mondo had said. But it was moving slower than she had hoped or would like. How long would it take for the rangers to realize they were indeed helping their enemies? How long would it take for the Machine Empire to fully exploit it? So far they were going easy on the rangers sending out each monster one by one. Their first few creations have been to test the rangers' powers, but the Seven Deadly Sins monsters were now much more important to the cause.

"Let's hope you get to that point before they find a way to destroy us all," Queen Machina said. She reached out a hand and lovingly stroked it down Superbia's brightly colored tail feathers. "As a matter of fact, King Mondo has given me explicit instructions for you not to hold back on this one. If you kill the red ranger, that's fine, it'll kill their morale. It'd be even better if you can bring him back here alive."

"Why?"

"So we can use him for our own advantage." Queen Machina pulled her hand back. "Go. Now."

"You got it, boss!"

Queen Machina lifted her fan and opened it, fanning herself. With a low sigh, she turned towards Orbus and Klank. "I believe you two could do me a favor," she remarked. "But this is a favor I need you to do under wraps, I don't need my husband or sons to know about it until the time is right."

"What is it we can help you with, dear Queen Machina?" Klank asked.

"We'll do anything we can to help," Orbus added.

"That's what I was hoping you'd say."

###

Tommy certainly wasn't afraid of anything but his muscles screamed with pain as he trudged through the snow, towards the lodge. Beside him, Jason didn't appear much worse for the wear, and Emily was practically skipping as she walked along side them, listening to Heather as she explained what had happened during her last snowboarding trip.

"Now, I'm not saying it was the skiers fault he got in my way," Heather defended herself. "Just that he should've known who he was up against when he tried to blame me."

Emily laughed. "I know what you mean. Guys always think that girls aren't as strong as they are. There's this guy I hang out with, Eddie, he hardly lets me speak up for myself let alone do some of the things he and the other guys are doing."

Jason looked at her, eyebrows furrowing together. Tommy noticed the expression on his face and started to ask him about it, but then Jason turned his face away to say something to Emily his undivided attention on her. He didn't seem to be trying too hard to get her attention in return.

"So what's up with the two of them?" Heather asked, coming up on Tommy's other side. She nodded towards Jason and Emily, her eyes shining against her light skin. The tip of her nose was a cute shade of red, as rose as her cheeks. Tommy blinked and looked away. Cute. He hadn't thought of that about anyone for a while. "They seem to be really chummy."

"Yeah, Jason wishes," Tommy interrupted with a laugh. "He's trying and failing to get this girl's attention. He's been smitten since he laid eyes on her."

"I understand that," Heather agreed.

"Oh." Tommy felt something pull at his stomach. "Is that what happened with your boyfriend?"

"No, I'm single. I just mean that this mountain, the snow, this place…it's all very romantic. A great way to meet someone. A great way to move relationships along. Trust me; nothing is better than curling up next to a warm fire with the person you love. Or like. Or barely tolerate if that's your prerogative." She laughed, holding up a hand. "I'm not going to judge."

Was she flirting with him? _Of course she is,_ Tommy thought. _You're the best person that she could flirt with. Who else can snowboard as well as she can?_

 _/You've really got to get your priorities straight/_ the Green Ranger said mockingly. / _I hope you haven't forgotten about me. I'm not going away anytime soon. I'm just waiting for the time that you let your guard down, like you always do, and I can take advantage./_

Tommy scowled and forced himself to push the Green Ranger behind him once more. "I'll try not to judge you, too," he said to Heather. "I mean, you don't have anyone to curl up next to a fire with up here."

"Who says I don't?" Laughing, Heather placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder and leaned against him. Her warmth radiated through his shirt. "I'll have you know I have plenty of guys waiting for my company." She laughed again. "Okay, maybe not plenty, but I hope at least one I don't know, we'll see how things go after lunch."

Heather looked up and jerked backwards as a Cog appeared in front of her face. Tommy immediately dropped his snowboard, ready to fight them off. More cogs appeared, this time with Superbia at the helm. Jason flung his arm out in front of Emily, backing them up a few steps as the cogs moved closer.

"Are you ready to rumble, rangers?" Superbia called.

"Tommy!"

Turning, Tommy saw the rest of the rangers, with Billy and Evie at the head, running their way. The two must've just arrived at the lodge. They all came skidding to a stop next to Tommy and Jason. "Looks like we've got some company," Jason muttered to Tommy. "I can't imagine why they'd want to send them to fight us up here."

"You and me both," Tommy murmured in reply. "But you know these guys, they're not very bright." He exchanged a look with Billy as he stopped in front of them. "Get Heather and Emily out of here."

"Wait, what about you guys?" Heather asked.

"We can handle these guys," Rocky declared before giving a funny smile. "Trust us, we're from Angel Grove. We have to deal with these things all the time."

"C'mon, let's go." Jason nudged Emily's arm and he, Billy, Emily, and Heather raced back towards the lodge.

"Do you think you're ready for this?" Adam asked Evie.

She smirked in response, eyes narrowing slightly. "Try and stop me," she replied.

"It's morphin' time!" Tommy declared.

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!" Kat called.

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!" Tanya called.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!" Rocky called.

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!" Adam called.

"Zeo Ranger V, Red!" Tommy called.

"Zeo Ranger VI, Orange!" Avalon called.

"Gold Ranger Power!" Evie called.

The rangers morphed and immediately launched into battle against the cogs while Tommy immediately went after Superbia. "Zeo Power Sword!" Holding the sword high over his head, Tommy leapt towards Superbia and became locked in battle. The peacock monster fended off each one of his blows with a swing of his arm. Feathers went flying with each crash of the sword against the monster. "Oh man, this guy's tougher than I remember. I'm going to have to try harder; I've defeated worse monsters than this before."

"That's right red ranger. Keep thinking that! Keep focusing on your pride!" Superbia cried. He started to glow purple. "You're just making me stronger!"

With that he turned around and fanned out his tail feathers, striking Tommy in the chest and knocking him back into the snow. Tommy lifted himself to his side before realizing his sword was no longer in his hands. "What's that supposed to mean?" He looked up as Superbia turned back around and started to flap his wings. _That's right Tommy; stall him until you find your Power Sword._

"Tommy, don't let your guard down," Zordon warned him.

_/Because precious Tommy would never let his guard down, he's too good. And yet he's the one that nearly got all of his friends killed. Did you forget about that, Tommy? Did you forget that you nearly killed your friends when you were me? And again when you were facing off against Scorpina, Goldar, and Rito?/_

"You rangers are so useless, I'm only as strong as the negative feelings you project. I'm too strong for you," Superbia cried. "You continue to make me stronger by the second."

He started to glow a nasty shade of purple, opening his mouth wide where a laser started to form. Tommy continued to shuffle his hands through the snow, looking for his weapon. He was making him stronger? Of course. That was it. It was the same way the monster of Sloth got stronger when Rocky was facing him, he had become so depressed with Aisha leaving that the monster fed off the depression and negativity and got stronger until Rocky finally defeated him.

 _So I'm right,_ Tommy thought with a burst of pride. _This is all up to me._

 _/You're even dumber than I thought./_ The Green Ranger said in a bored tone.

Tommy looked up as he heard a cry and found the rangers had defeated the cogs and were now going after Superbia. Evie leapt forward and thrust out her staff, shooting out a golden blast of lightning that struck Superbia and knocked him to the ground, causing feathers to explode throughout the air. Then Adam and Rocky flanked Superbia on both sides and with a tag team effort started to fight him as hard as they could. But Superbia had to be telling the truth about the power he harness from Tommy as one beat of his wings easily knocked the blue and green Zeo rangers over. Evie slammed the end of her staff into the ground and flung out her arm, grabbing onto Adam and Rocky as they started to blow by.

"Good timing, Evie," Rocky said to her. Evie nodded in reply.

Snowflakes kicked up with the sudden driving winds, causing Tommy to shield his face with his arm. He looked down as the snow drifted away, revealing his Zeo Power Sword. With a cry of triumph, Tommy picked it up.

"Oh come on, at least try a _little_ harder than that!" Superbia cried.

With Kat and Tanya taking Rocky's and Adam's place, they used their Zeo Power Disc and Zeo Double Clubs as a double attack. Kat moved closer to Superbia, blocking the attack of the wings that was sent their way, and then Tanya darted in and took a hit with her Double Clubs. Then Avalon came up from the other side with her Zeo Power Scythe and struck the peacock monster in the back. Superbia cried out in range then spun around in a quick circle, beating its wings at the same time. The girls cried out as they were blasted off their feet and driven into the snow.

Avalon lifted her scythe to keep herself from being blown back and was pushed as far as Evie was. The two looked at each other then charged forward once more, swinging their staff and scythe at the same time.

"No!" Tommy declared. "This is _my_ fight!"

"Tommy you can't do this alone," Kat reminded him, accented voice filled with dismay.

"It's _my_ fight," Tommy repeated.

"You have to let us help you, man," Adam said. He grabbed onto Tommy's arm but the red ranger shrugged him off before racing towards Superbia. Superbia, ready for him, stuck out its neck and pecked at the front of Tommy's suit. Tommy cried out in pain as his suit short-circuited and he fell to the ground, grimacing as the pain jolted through his body. "Tommy!"

Rocky and Tanya raced to his side and helped him up. "Tommy are you okay?" Rocky asked.

"Tommy, let us help you," Tanya added.

"No." Taking in a shuddery, gasping breath, Tommy pulled his arms from their grasps. "I can do this." Superbia continued to glow purple, this time almost steady. Then he started to change until he resembled a demonic looking peacock, about twice the size he had been before.

Superbia then pulled its wings up into himself, and a strange gleam appeared at the tips of his wings. Then Superbia opened his wings and a storm of metal feathers shot out and crashed into Avalon, Evie, Kat, Tanya, Rocky, and Adam. They all cried out as they were knocked off their feet and flung to the ground.

"Guys! Oh no!" Tommy called.

/ _Don't you get it? You're just helping Superbia and the Machine Empire. You're helping them kill your friends. You're doing it again. You're going to allow yourself to let all of them die for your selfish pride. Just as you did with Ivan Ooze. You've killed your zords and now you're going to kill your friends./_

_No._

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut bringing his hands to his helmet and gripping it hard. He clenched his hands into fists and punched the sides of his helmet. His inner animal spirit, his falcon, screeched as it flew in distressed circles.

_No. No. No._

_/Choose what you want. You're either indebted to me…or to the Machine Empire…/_

_No!_

"Say goodbye, ranger!" Superbia lowered his head, pushing his tail feathers up into the air. The circles that rested on the feathers brightened and a loud, screeching sound filled the air, causing Tommy's cries to mix in with the rest of his friends as they continued to writhe in pain. Superbia's feathers continued to increase in brightness until blasts of energy came out from the rings and shot towards Tommy.

"No!" Tommy leapt to his feet, holding out his Zeo Power Sword. The blast flew into the star encrusted upon Tommy's sword. "Zeo Power Sword!" He ran his hand along the blade and it glowed red before settling into the star once more. "Fire!" Blasts of fiery energy shot out and struck Superbia in the chest.

"What?!" Superbia cried, flapping his wings as he haphazardly fell to the ground. "No! No!"

"HIYA!" Tommy swung his sword and the rest of the energy from his power weapon, of the weapon in its own right and the energy it had taken in from Superbia, struck Superbia firmly across the front.

"NOOOOO!" Superbia howled, glowing a bright purple before exploding into a ball of purple flames. When the smoke cleared, he was gone.

Exhausted, Tommy fell to his knees.

The unthinkable had happened.

The green ranger had saved his life.


	68. Envy

**Chapter 68**

_Envy_

* * *

Tanya laughed as she tumbled over and over into the snow. Sitting up, she brushed the cold flakes away from her eyes. As they melted they dribbled down her cheeks, cooling her down. The bright sunlight glittered against the snow, reflecting back into her eyes, momentarily blinding her, but it was better than she could ever image. The vacation, the trip, playing in the snow as much as she wanted. It was something she never thought she would be able to do moving out to California and now she was here with her friends.

Okay, maybe things were a little bit _too_ cold, and maybe she wasn't good at snowboarding, and maybe she managed to fall down more often than she was standing up, but she was getting used to it. That didn't mean it didn't hurt a little bit. And she thought the board that Shawn had bought her for the trip was supposed to be the top of the line and easy to manure. Maneuver her into the ground was more like it.

Rocky laughed as he came to a stop beside her, sending snow everywhere as he did so. Adam stopped on her other side, laughing as well. "You look like your color should be blue, Tanya. Not mine." He reached out his hand and helped her off the ground.

"Yeah, you really slammed this time," Adam agreed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tanya replied with a light laugh. She clapped her gloves together. "I haven't had this much fun in a long time. If I knew this was possible, I would've done it a long time ago." She looked down at the snowboard attached to her feet and gasped lightly, seeing the large scratch put into it. "Oh wow, I guess I must've hit a patch of ice or something."

"Or _something_!" Shawn spat, coming up to Tanya's side. She visibly flinched at the sudden sound of his voice and lowered her gaze, as if ashamed. "I can't believe you ruined my snowboard like that? Do you know how much it cost? And it was a gift! How could you do that?"

"It was an accident, Shawn," Tanya said. She finally lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. Rocky and Adam exchanged a glance as she started to shiver and they were sure it wasn't from the cold. "I didn't do it on purpose. I hit a rock or something."

"Yeah, it happens all the time," Adam added, quickly coming to her defense. "I think there's some rocks hidden under all of this snow or something. It's not a big deal. It was an accident."

"I wasn't talking to you!" Shawn snapped, whirling on Adam. "What are you getting into my business for anyway? Can't you see this is a conversation between her and me?" He reached out and jabbed Tanya on the shoulder with his index finger. "I get you're jealous of us, but you don't need to keep butting into our relationship."

"Jealous?" Adam repeated, eyebrows rising.

Now Shawn turned and jabbed Adam in the chest with his finger, causing him to windmill his arms to keep from falling backwards into the snow. Adam prided himself on being a pacifist and did his best to keep from losing his temper, but this Shawn guy was really starting to get on his nerves. They had only been at the ski resort for a couple of days and the guy had already managed to alienate and offend nearly everyone he came into contact with. But with Tanya he was the best thing that ever happened to her and it was like he could do no wrong.

"Right, you're jealous!" Shawn insisted. "Jealous that I've got with someone as fine as Tanya and you can't handle it."

"Okay, I think you're going a little too far, there," Rocky jumped in. Adam was glad he was willing to show his frustration with Shawn because Adam had no idea where to start. He knew there was something wrong with him since they first met but now that it was all being proven to him…well, he wasn't much to gloat and say 'I told you so' unless it was to annoy Rocky. "Adam is the least jealous person I know and if he has a problem it's with _you_ not that you're dating Tanya. And even then I can't say that for sure considering how much of a jerk you are to her."

"Why don't you mind your own business, blue boy?" Shawn shot back. "This is none of your business." He reached out and grabbed Tanya's arm so painfully that she cried out in pain. "C'mon, Tanya. Let's get out of here."

Adam then reached out and took Tanya's other arm, gently yet firmly, and held her still. "She doesn't want to o with you, Shawn," he snapped.

"Funny, I didn't hear her say that. Let's _go_ , Tanya!"

"Ouch!" Tanya cried out again. Adam had such a firm grip on Tanya that when Shawn pulled on her arm it jerked her forward, yanking painfully on the other one. "Shawn, let go!"

That was a mistake. Shawn's face reddened and he jerked Tanya upwards, putting his face directly into hers. His eyes flashed as he glared down at her. "What did you say?" He demanded. "What did you just say to me? How _dare_ you speak to me that way! When I've given you everything you've ever wanted! I've given you jewelry, rides in my car, clothes, _anything_ you've ever wanted and this is what you're doing to repay me? Humiliating me like this in public?"

"The only thing you've done for her is cause her misery and pain," Adam snapped, unable to hold back any longer. He could practically see red he was so angry. "I tried to be nice because you were her boyfriend but I can't do it anymore. You're an asshole, Shawn. Tanya has done nothing but treat you the way you should be treated an instead you treat her like she's a nuisance or an eye sore, convenient when you need her. You've been dating her for a little over a month now and even though you're a guest on this vacation you've done nothing but alienate the rest of us because of your attitude."

"Please." Shawn threw Tanya's arm out of her grasp and crossed his arms over his chest. A smug smile came to his face as he looked back and forth between Rocky and Adam. "She was nothing when she first moved here. She's lucky to have me."

Rocky opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Tanya, who scrambled to her feet after having fallen to the floor. He blinked rapidly when Tanya reached out and shoved Shawn hard in the chest. THE Yellow Zeo Ranger's eyes flashed. "I don't think so, Shawn!" She spat. "Ever since we've met you've given me nothing but a negative attitude."

"You weren't complaining when I was giving you all of that stuff," Shawn pointed out. "Or are you just a superficial bitch?"

It was then Adam understood. Tanya had been a bit greedy with the things that Shawn had given her, he could admit that much, but most of it wasn't her fault. It had to have been Avaritia—the toad—that made it worse. And it certainly _had_ gotten worse over time. _Maybe the SDS monsters don't need to be around for their effects to still be on us._

If it were possible, Tanya flew into an even bigger rage. "I don't care about all of the crap you've ginve me just to buy my love! You've been a jerk to me, Shawn. And you're started to hit me. If you can't treat me like an equal then we have nothing to discuss. _Period_."

Shawn's mouth dropped open and he stared at Tanya in surprise. Adam couldn't help but smile a little while Rocky let out a chuckle of amusement, causing Shawn to turn a glare their way. But then he turned back to Tanya and continued to babble, trying to figure out what to say in response. It had to have been the first time Shawn ever had someone tell him off like that. And for that person to be his girlfriend? That had to be worse. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.

"Well _fine._ If that's the way you want it, it's cool with me!" Shawn reached out and shoved Tanya to the ground before bending down and pulling her feet from her restraints. Whether it was to get his point across or to just be an asshole one last time Adam wasn't sure. "You've just made the biggest mistake of your life."

"My biggest mistake was giving you the time of day," Tanya shot back.

Shawn glared and stalked off. Adam reached out and helped Tanya to her feet, gripping her hands tightly. "That was awesome," he said in awe, then smiled warmly at her. "I'm proud of you."

"It wasn't a big deal," Tanya muttered, shaking her head.

"No big deal?" Rocky repeated. Now he started to giggle like a school girl. "Did you see the look on his face when you told him off? I've never seen a smug smile disappear that quickly. As a matter of fact, I don't think anyone's ever told him 'no' before. That was awesome."

Tanya shrugged.

Adam reached out and pushed her chin upwards so she was forced to look at him. "Tanya, you stood up for yourself," he reminded her. "You should be proud of what you've done."

"Yeah…" For a long moment Tanya stayed silent and Tanya wasn't sure if she was going to respond. She sniffled a little and let out a long breath before adding, "But I also lost my boyfriend."

"He didn't deserve you anyway," Adam reassured her.

"Yeah, what he _does_ deserve is a grade-a ass kicking," Rocky agreed.

Tanya took another breath and wiped at her eyes. She sniffled once more then smiled warmly. "Yeah, I guess you're right," She agreed. "Thanks Adam, you're the best." She reached out and gave him a grateful hug, which Adam returned. "You know, he said you were jealous of mine, but I think he was jealous of you."

"Of me?" Adam's eyebrows furrowed together as he pulled back. "W-why would he be jealous of me?" Rocky gave him a 'duh' look and Adam's eyebrows furrowed even further, along with his intense confusion. "I don't get it."

"Because you're sweet and nice and have helped me fit in and I guess he couldn't handle that," Tanya replied. She gently rubbed his shoulder. "You're such a great friend."

Adam weakly smiled in response.

Okay, so being a friend wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was just new to Angel Grove…but still he wished she would've seen it as a bit more than that. He hadn't had feelings for a lot of people in his life; sure at one point he had a crush on Aisha. She _was_ his only female friend for a long time and it had been a long time ago that he mistook her friendship for real feelings, but he at least knew what it was like when he _did_ have feelings for them. But for Tanya…he wasn't sure what to think.

Yes, she was beautifully, he thought so since he met her, but he didn't allow himself to think about it more than that because she had bonded with Shawn so quickly. _Well, she's not bonded with him now…_ He reminded himself before mentally telling himself to shut up. He didn't need to worry about it at the moment.

Because the last thing he ever wanted to do was admit he was envious of Shawn for any reason at all

* * *

"Here's your hot chocolate, sir."

"Thanks."

Billy smiled to the cashier and took the two cups of hot chocolate in his hands. His snow pants made a swishing sound as he walked across the lobby and over to the couch that was the closest to the fireplace. Avalon looked up from her movement of rubbing her sore legs and smiled at him. "I take it they wouldn't let you get an entire vat of it, yeah?" She asked. "That'd help with the bruising more than just drinking it."

She smiled and made a sound of surprise as Billy leaned in and gave her a long kiss. He felt himself blushing as he pulled back, not one that typically brought on PDA other than hand-holding, but he had been working hard to show he wasn't afraid of showing his affection when they weren't just holding hands. He tried not to think about what Zack would've done if he were still around; the former ranger was so into girls and his play for them that he made the other rangers' relationships his business. He remembered the time Jason had been forthcoming about a crush he had on a girl in 8th grade—and it was very telling that since then he didn't make it so open when he did—and Zack pulled out all of the stops to help Jason tell the girls he liked her.

As it happened she had liked him too and just wanted him to tell her rather than use all of the lines and come ons Zack had pumped him with. Even before Billy had admitted to himself that he liked Trini as more than a friend, Zack had been pushing to get the two of them together.

 _If he was around now he'd probably be using this place to set up so many people…or maybe trying to find a girl of her own,_ Billy thought with a fond smile. He sat down on the couch next to Avalon, pulling off his beanie. Melting snow dropped to the floor and he shook out his hair, feeling his cheeks and nose warm up.

"Yes, well, considering how many times you've managed to fallen so far I believe this may at least remedy your bruised pride," Billy teased. He handed the hot chocolate over to his girlfriend and she eagerly took it. She used it to warm her hands before placing it onto the table beside them.

"I wasn't kidding when I told you I was bad at snowboarding," Avalon defended herself. "I can skateboard just fine, I can surf just fine, I can't snowboard. I can't ski. I can't even stay in a sled. I just don't like the cold." Billy blinked at her twice.

"I'm sorry; did you just say you can't sled?" He asked.

Avalon shook her head. "I always fall out of the sled." Billy burst out into loud laughter, wiping at his eyes as they teared up. Avalon slowly started to pout the longer and longer he went on. "Because I'm so light, whenever they got over a bump I fall ou—"she reached out and whacked her boyfriend on the arm. "It's not that funny!"

Billy continued to laugh. "I'm sorry; I'm just trying to picture it."

"There's not a lot of snow back where I'm from so instead we would 'go sledding'," she used air quotes around the words, "when it rained enough. Only me and my friends did it, it's not like the entire country of Australia would use that as sledding. But I kept falling out." Billy continued to laugh. "It's _no_ t that funny, Smurf."

He covered his face with his hands as he started to calm down. She was right, it wasn't that funny. But it was the hardest he had laughed in a long time and he really needed it. He had spent so much time cooped up in the

Billy chuckled to himself as he watched Avalon very slowly, very carefully reach over and pick up the cup of hot chocolate she set aside. And yet every time she moved, she winced. Billy gave her a funny look, continuing to watch as she leaned back in her sat, seemingly having abandoned her efforts for her drink at all. Unfortunately, his cup didn't cover his smile quick enough because Avalon turned and glared at him.

"It stopped being funny about the fifth time I fell on my ass, Smurf," She hallf-snapped, half-whined.

"To you, maybe, but not to me," Billy replied. He took a long sip of his own hot chocolate, finishing it, and placed it on the table beside them. "So I'm assuming you're not going to be going back out on the slopes with us later."

"Not if Heather is there," Avalon replied. "I swear to God just mentioning the fact that I've never gone snowboarding before, which I never _wanted_ to do, just made Heather even more sadistic than I'm already sure she is." She pulled her hair back from her face and swung her legs up, resting her feet in Billy's lap. "But I'm glad it gave you some sense of entertainment. To be honest, I'm surprised you left the Power Chamber, you've really needed a break for a while."

"Yeah, well…" Billy sighed, gently shaking her foot back and forth. "You can't take a break when the Machine Empire is constantly sending down the SDS monsters." He rubbed his chin. "I've actually started to wonder if there's anything more than King Mondo is trying to do? Like these monsters are just a distraction."

"Honestly, when have any of these guys given us any idea that they're smart enough to give us a distraction, mate?" Avalon asked.

"Rita and Zedd have done it before."

"I reckon they have, but what would King Mondo and the Machine Empire be doing as their ultimate plan if they continue to send the SDS monsters on us?" She thought for a moment. "I mean, it's not like we haven't seen any of the other monsters we've gone up against do the same thing. But why would they continue to waste their time with these specific monsters rather than others."

"Because they've seen what it can do to us," Billy pointed out. "So far we've managed to get rid of the Sloth and Pride monsters because we've found out what makes them strong and what makes them weak, exhibiting the Seven Deadly Sins. If we keep from continuing to exhibit those traits then they won't be as strong."

"But that's harder than it sounds, Smurf," Avalon pointed out. "They're the seven deadly sins for a reason. You can't ignore those sort of feelings, it's human nature. And it's not possible to sit back and act like you have no emotions whatsoever." She placed a hand on her chest. "Trust me; I've tried when I first got here to Angel Grove."

"I remember," Billy said calmly.

That had certainly been true. Up until a time where Bailey was threatened, Avalon was very standoffish with the rest of the rangers. To the point that he wasn't entirely sure when she had arrived at the school but noticed when she was around. She had been at the school for a couple of months before the rangers had gone and introduced themselves to him and, honestly, he wasn't sure what made them wait so long to do so. Then again she didn't work hard to make friends and stuck to herself and while it took a while for them to figure out the reason why, it proved to be helpful for the team.

"And look how that turned out," Billy pointed out. "You're a great part of the team and now we've got the Zeo Powers to work with that's fending off the Machine Empire the best we can. Now that Evie is part of the team that should make it easier." He reached up his hands and rubbed at his eyes. "But her powers are failing and I'm trying to figure out a way to keep them from draining her life force entirely as we figure out how to transfer her powers."

"And you think the Machine Empire is doing this to deplete Evie's powers completely?" Avalon's eyebrows furrowed together. "Actually, I wouldn't put it past them, yeah? But that means they knew about Evie's existence long before Zordon and Alpha did." Billy nodded in agreement. "That's a pretty good point. But the question is, how are we supposed to transfer the powers? Last time; Jason's, Trini's, and Zack's powers copied themselves and that was partially from the Azurite Healiodore." She thought for a moment. "I guess I could call my Dad, see if he has any suggestions. As much as mum said he paid too much attention to his work it has to come in handy at some point, yeah?"

Billy nodded in agreement but didn't say anything else. Maybe it just had to be that easy. He was able to give Tanya his own Zeo Powers, making her the yellow ranger and Rocky the new blue ranger. _But you were also told that you weren't pure of heart to take them in,_ Billy reminded himself. He made a face, passing it off as an expression of contemplative thought. Nothing had hurt him more than hearing that he wasn't able to take on the Zeo powers. Aisha not taking them on he could understand as she was leaving, Bailey he could understand because she was starting to wonder what her life would be like without being a ranger, but him? He had given the past two years of his life to it and was cut down when the first sign of trouble came up.

"I'm sure we'll figure out something," he finally said, not wanting to dwell any further about what they didn't know. It was starting to make his head hurt. " It was making more than his head hurt, his whole body ached and he needed to get away as soon as possible. Clearing his throat Billy said, "Speaking of, I need to see your communicator."

Avalon looked at him for a moment then let out a sigh, shaking her head. She stuck out her arm and Billy grasped her wrist, taking off her communicator with a few movements of his fingers that sent shivers up and down her spine. "Why is it that I'm always your bloody guinea pig?" She asked.

Billy smiled. He adopted a British accent as he said, "Because, my dear, you make it too easy. I'll be right back." Billy climbed off the couch, leaned in and gave her a kiss, and left the lobby.

He made it back to his room, finally breaking when he closed the door behind him. A wave of grief washed over him and he slowly slid to the ground, pressing his back against the wood. He took a couple of deep breaths then felt himself break completely. Tears came to his eyes and as hard as he tried not to let them fall they started to slowly down his cheeks and drip off his chin.

What was the point? Why was he there? He didn't deserve the time to hangout, but needed to stay in the Power Chamber until he figured out every little trick that would get the rangers the upper hand on the Machine Empire. He should be applying to all of the other colleges that he hadn't looked at yet to see what would take him. He should be finishing up his experiments and sending them out to see who was going to give him research grants while he studied. He should've been at home with his father, instead of leaving him in the empty house. He should've been doing something, _anything_ that would take his mind off of what he had been forcing out of his mind as much as he could.

Just the mere mention of Avalon's mother had set him off and he couldn't stop. He hadn't grieved about her death until then and he tired his hardest to stay as composed as possible. But skiing had been one of her favorite activities. He thought he could get through it but…

Billy pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes and took in a deep shuddering breath. He was envious about a lot of different things; his friend's strengths, how they were able to face everything that came their way, how they were still rangers, how they had that day to day feeling like they were doing something for the greater good.

A shuddering sigh was brought into Billy's mouth and when he breathed out his breath turned into a scream of agony, releasing all of the pain and frustration he had put away.

But the biggest thing Billy was envious of was how much he still wanted to be a ranger and how it wasn't their fault that one of their parents had been caught in the crossfire like he was at fault for his mother's death.

* * *

King Mondo smiled and flicked his head over towards Invidia, the snake, and gestured towards him. "It's your turn," he said. "Make sure you destroy them all. Or else I'll destroy you myself."

"As you wi _sssss_ h," Invidia replied.


	69. Gluttony

**Chapter 69**

_Gluttony_

**A/N:** Ms-Strange Imagination owns the Gold Ranger Evie Caldwell

* * *

"You called for me, boss?"

Goldar looked over at Scorpina and Rito, who had gathered in front of Rita and Zedd as well. Goldar turned his gaze towards Zedd, waiting to see what he had to say, but he took his sweet time pacing back and forth in front of them while Rita stood off to the side, watching her husband and grinning every few seconds.

"Yes, I wanted you all to be here," Zedd said in his low, rumbling voice. "I wanted you all to know what I have planned for the Machine Empire and how we're going to overthrow them." He stopped pacing and tapped the end of his Z-scepter on the ground. "King Mondo won't know what'll hit him once our plan is set into motion."

"We're ready to do everything you need, my liege," Scorpina said with a low bow. She brushed her hair back behind her shoulders. "Ready and willing to do everything you ask of us."

"Yeah, what she said, Ed!" Rito agreed.

Zedd whipped his head around and glared at Rito. "It's _Zedd_ you insufferable moron!" He turned and shot a look at Rita, who rolled her eyes in response. She had nothing to do with Rito coming around more than he was. And there wasn't a point to worry about it at the moment, they needed to know the plan down to the letter so they didn't mess things up like they always did.

"Master Ville is keeping watch of what the Machine Empire is doing next," Zedd continued. "And I don't doubt they're going to go the same route we did, send down these other monsters to tire them out and then do a melee attack. We've seen how that doesn't work and we know what to expect when they fail. The Machine Empire will see their plan blow up in their face as they exhaust all of their other options and then we can swoop in and destroy the power rangers once and for all!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Rito asked.

Zedd growled again." I just told you, you buffoon! We wait for the Machine Empire to exhaust their options then go in there ourselves. But this time we have the full power of Master Vile in our midst, we didn't get a chance to full use him last time when the Zeo Crystal decided to show itself to the rangers. But this time around we'll make sure to destroy them and the Machine Empire while we're at it and take over the world."

"You tell them, Zeddy," Rita agreed. She gleefully spun her magic wand in her hands. "Once we take over Angel Grove then we can take over the world. And with the rangers out here, taking over Angel Grove will be easy. The rangers won't know what hit them."

"Do you want us to go into Angel Grove now?" Goldar asked.

"No. Not yet. We need to wait for them to get back. It'l be a sort of…welcome home present."

"You got it, boss."

...

..

.

Adam cried out in pain as he was struck across the chest with a lashing tail and fell to the ground. He rolled over just in time to find Rocky and Kat suffer the same fate. Invidia coiled itself up and his head bobbed back and forth, watching the rangers in front of him, his tail gently swishing from side to side.

"Give up rangerssss you're not going to beat us," Invidia hissed, tongue flicking out of his mouth. As he said that, Avaritia, the toad, Luxuria, the goat, and Gula, the pig all appeared by his side. Four monsters versus seven rangers and so far they were losing badly.

"What are we going to do now?" Kat asked, holding onto her Zeo Power Disc with both hands. "On their own one is hard enough, but now having to face all of these guys together?"

"We're going to have to fight harder," Evie stated. "As long as we continue to fight against them before they can fight against us, there's no way they can take us down."

"I'm down with that plan," Avalon agreed. "The best defense is a strong offense."

"Wait guys!" Tommy held out his arm, holding his Zeo Power Sword in front of him as he did so. "There's a pattern to these attacks. We've already gotten rid of the Sloth and Pride monsters after they specifically targeted me and Rocky. And we know that the rest of these guys are going after Kat, Tanya, and Adam, we need to think of the way to get rid of those guys before we can focus on the other one."

"Whatever it is you're going to do, you need to do it fast," Billy said, his concerned voice coming through their communication link. "By our readings these guys are stronger than the last time we've seen them. If they're the same as the other monsters these guys are feeding off of our sins."

"…Like with Shawn," Tanya gasped, bringing a hand up to cover the mouth of her mask. "I got so caught up in the gifts he was giving me, I didn't…I'm not usually like that."

"That's alright, Tanya," Kat said, placing her hand on Tanya's shoulder. She looked over at Tommy and immediately looked away once more. "It was the power of the monster against you, not _you._ And that's the key to defeating these guys."

Tanya nodded in response.

Adam got to his feet and watched as Invidia, Avaritia, Luxuria, and Gula continued to watch the rangers in turn. The front of his suit was starting to feel the wear and tear from the fight in front of them and it was still going on. _Man, these guys really do seem like they have an infinite source of energy. And to know we're the ones that are giving it to them…?_ Adam shook his head. But that was the part he liked about being a ranger as well, fighting as hard as he could, leaving it all on the battlefield to help everyone around them. He watched as Gula laughed and started to glow. _Okay, Adam, don't get too smug. That's what he's feeding off of,_ he reminded himself.

"We're not going to do much just standing around here," Avalon finally declared. "Let's go!" She raised her Zeo Power Scythe over her head and charged towards the monsters once more, with the rest of the team following along behind her.

Adam leapt over Invidia's lashing tail and landed on the serpent's back in a low crouch. Racing towards the serpent's head he dodged the stinging strike of Invidia's tongue that, at one point, crashed directly into the face of his helmet, cracking the glass. "Zeo Power Hatchet!" He leapt high into the air and brought the hatchet down towards Invidia's head. But as he flew through the air, Gula suddenly appeared at his side and slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"Hang on, Adam!" Evie called. "Looks like this pig wants to experience some of the golden power!" She held up her staff and the red gem at the top glowed. Shoving the staff forward a blast of gold lightning shot out from the gem and crashed into Gula's side, causing the pig to squeal loudly, running around in circles.

"Nice shot, Evie!" Rocky congratulated her. He followed up her attack with a slash of his Zeo power axes into the side of the pig monster, knocking it backwards. "And this little piggy went home!"

"I think you're having a little too much fun with this, mate," Avalon pointed out, leaping backwards as Luxuria turned her way, barely missing a direct hit of the goat's back hooves. She swung her scythe low, cutting the goat at the knees then pulled up her blaster. "But these guys as ugly as a box of blowflies and just as annoying, yeah?" Pulling back the trigger she fired four blasts into Luxuria's side as Kat threw her Power Disc and struck the goat monster directly in the middle of the forehead.

"We'll have to figure something out soon," Kat said as she caught her disc on the arch back. "We can't hold them off like this any longer."

"If there's only one way to take them down, then let's do it," Tanya declared. She turned to Avaritia and clenched her hand into a fist. "You took on power because of my greed in my relationship with Shawn. That relationship was doomed from the start; he tried to buy me off with tokens and gifts instead of treating me like a person and I'm not going to let him or you take my power away anymore!" She turned back to her friends and nodded. "Let's put it together, guys!"

"Right!"

Tommy, Kat, Tanya, Adam, Rocky, and Avalon all came together. "Zeo Power Disc!" "Zeo Power Double Clubs!" "Zeo Power Axe!" "Zeo Power Hatchet!" "Zeo Power Sword!" "Zeo Power Scythe!" They put their weapons together to create the Zeo Blaster.

"Ready?" Tommy called.

"Fire!" The rest of the rangers called.

The blast from the Zeo Blaster trilled in a rainbow of colors as it shot out towards Avaritia. It crashed into the monster and there was another large explosion of color as Avaritia screamed. The toad fell to its back and started to twitch horrifically, trying to flip back onto its stomach. "I'm not through yet!" It screamed as he moved. "I'm never done!"

"We'll just see about that. Let's see how you handle this," Evie added. She held her staff high into the air and a brilliant flash of gold lightning shot out and struck Avaritia once more. It screamed loudly and exploded into a bright flash of light.

"Yeah!" Tommy cheered. "That's one down and three to go!"

"We're not going to make it eassssy for you," Invidia declared and before the ranger's eyes he, Luxuria, and Gula all grew to a large size, towering over the rangers. "Let'ssss see how you handle us now!"

"You're asking for it this time," Avalon declared. "We need Zeo Zord power, now!"

The zords came out of their hiding places and came together to form the Zeo Megazord. The rangers immediately leapt inside and brought the Zeo Megazord forward into a fight against the three SDS monsters. They got a good handle on Invidia, grabbing it by the throat and throwing him as far as they could make him go, however Gula and Luxuria quickly took his place and tag-teamed the rangers, knocking the Zeo Megazord onto its back.

"You have to get up," Bailey said to the rangers. "They're coming in fast and you need to stop them before they all attack at once."

"You've got Invidia coming from the North, and Luxuria and Gula coming from the East and West, you have to move fast," Jason added.

"I call on the power of Pyramidas, now!" Evie called, thrusting her staff into the air.

Adam gasped in surprise as the clouds broke and a large pyramid structure descended from the clouds. It was a good distraction for the rangers to get the Zeo Megazord off the ground as Evie and Pyramidas shot out energy bolts to the monsters, knocking them backwards. "Good shot, Evie! That's just what we needed."

"You're welcome," Evie called back. "Anything to take these guys down."

Adam's eyebrows then furrowed together as it sounded like Evie was out of breath. He wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the silence that encompassed the battlefield once the SDS monsters were knocked back. "Evie, what's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. We have to stop these guys."

"And that's what we're going to do!" Tommy declared. "Zeo Megazord Sabre!" The rangers summoned the sword into the grasp of the Megazord and the as Invidia, Gula, and Avaraitia charged towards them once more, the rangers brought the sword down directly into their faces.

The monsters flew back against the ground and disappeared in a bright flash of light, teleporting back up to the Machine Empire's lair. The rangers left their zords and went back to the lodge, meeting up in one room. As soon as they arrived, Evie collapsed down onto the bed, her head hanging forward.

"Evie, are you okay, mate?" Avalon placed her hand on Evie's shoulder and kneeled down by the gold ranger to get a good look into her face. Evie nodded weakly and Avalon shook her head as she stood up. "No, I think this fight really took a lot out of her."

"The longer she takes to get her powers transferred, the more battles she's in…" Billy shook his head as well. "It's not good. It's depleting her energy source that much faster." He crossed his arms. "And unless we can figure out how to do it, then there's not much we can do before…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence, the silence that filled the room afterwards was all that was needed.

"But what are we going to do?" Rocky asked. He sat on the floor beside Kat, tugging on the sleeves of his shirt so that they fell over his palms. "These guys are feeding off of us. And maybe it's not just us, maybe it's the sins from everyone we're around. Our Zeo Powers are getting stronger by the day but it doesn't seem like any of this is working. And we still have three monsters left."

"Four," Adam corrected him. "We still haven't come across the monster of wrath yet. And considering how bad the rest of these guys have been, wrath isn't going to be a walk in the park." Closing his eyes, he ran his hands over his face. These were the hardest monsters ever and the worst part wasn't that they were strong and that the machine Empire had managed to find enemies they couldn't dream of defeating. It was that they were part of the reason the monsters continued to be so strong and there had to be a way to be able to defeat them rather than trying to cut off their emotions and choices.

They were humans for that reason alone; they were emotional creatures. Having figured out a way to use that against the rangers was the only good thing one of their enemies had managed to do.

"So maybe we need to think about this systematically, yeah?" Bailey pointed out. "Because playing to our strengths in numbers isn't working."

"What do you think we can do that we haven't already done, Bay?" Tommy asked. It was the question Adam was sure was on everyone's heads considering how quiet the room became after that. Sitting up straight, Adam tried to stretch the muscles in his back before he slouched down once more. A forbidden though entered his head; that if it were the original ranger team they would probably know what to do as soon as the SDS monsters came to them. Instead of struggling as much as they were, the old team probably would have completely enjoyed their vacation by now.

Shaking his head, Adam rested his chin in his hands. "I just don't know," he admitted.

Tanya reached out and placed her hand on his wrist, gently rubbing it. He looked at her and smiled, just as the door to the room burst open, causing the rangers to jump. Shawn stormed into the room with Emily walking leisurely behind him, holding a cell phone in her hand.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Jason asked.

Shawn immediately rounded on him. "I was just about to ask the same damn question!" He turned to Tanya, who slid her hand off of Adam's wrist, but not fast enough. "What the hell is going on here?"

Kat spoke up in her calm, demeanor. She was never one to yell or get in anyone's face and even as she stood up to face Shawn he understood she meant business. "The entire lodge was just attacked by a monster and you're worrying over why all of us are in one bloody room? It was chaos out there and we all needed to get to safety! If anything, you should be glad she's okay."

Shawn faltered for a minute, still glaring down at Adam and Tanya, the latter who looked away from him. Adam watched her, noticing she was doing her best to keep her eyes downcast, almost as if she were still afraid of him, and calmly stood up. He moved to place his hand on Shawn's shoulder but was shrugged off almost immediately. "Look, we're all just a little freaked out by what happened, you don't need to make it worse."

On the inside he felt himself starting to smile, seeing the uncertainty that moved over Shawn's face. HE couldn't help it, seeing Shawn get told off an embarrassed was fun to watch since it had been revealed he was treating Tanya so badly for so long. Suddenly, Shawn gave him a funny look and took a step back.

"What's up with your eyes man?" He demanded. "They were glowing or something!"

 _Glowing?_ Then Adam's eyes widened. His amusement of Shawn's despair was something he enjoyed, a lot. And that enjoyment, any sort of obsessive thought, made Gula stronger. No wonder there was no way for him to defeat the pig monster. He was continuously making him stronger without thinking much about it. It was his fault.

Jason took a step forward. "Okay, look, we're all freaked out about what happened," he said calmly. "And that's why tensions are running high, we never thought they would come out of Angel Grove and come up here and who knows where else these guys have gone. It's not going to help if we continue to point fingers at each other." He then turned to Emily and glanced at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

Emily slowly looked at him, as if broken out of a trance then nodded rapidly. "Yeah, yeah…" she lowered her blue eyes to her phone for a minute. "I'm fine." She moved her hand behind her back, hiding her phone as Jason looked at it. Then he turned to look at Avalon, whose eyebrows rose, and she brought a hand up to her forehead. "Actually, I'm still kind of freaked out. I think I'm going to go lie down for a while."

"That's a good idea," Evie agreed.

Fred, who had been watching her since they arrived in the room, immediately stood up. "I can walk you back," he offered Evie, grabbing her arm. "You really don't look too good." He glanced at Shawn and Jason. "Must've been that bump to your head." He looked over at Bailey and she nodded in reply, taking Evie's other arm and helping her out of the room.

"Shawn," Tommy said. "We're all really freaked out right now. If there's something you want to say then either say it and get going or at least give us time to rest or…wrap our heads around what happened here." His face hardened as Shawn looked back and forth between the rangers. Finally, he cast Tanya a dirty look and stormed out of the room.

"Thanks," Tanya said quietly, her gaze still towards her lap.

"Don't worry about it, Tanya, we have to have each other's backs right?"

Kat kneeled down by Tanya's side and gently pulled her to her feet. With a quiet whisper of 'come on' and a gentle nudge the two rangers left the room. The others trickled out after them until Adam and Rocky were the only ones left in their room. Adam flopped down onto his bed and rested his arm over his eyes.

"What's going on, bro?" Rocky asked, sitting on the edge of his own bed.

For a long moment Adam was silent. There were a lot of things going on and he had no idea how to wrap his head around any of it. It was the first time since he had taken on the power ranger powers that he truly felt one day they were going to be defeated, killed in action. He wasn't sure if it was a sort of premonition or anything but the feeling had hit him in the gut when they were fighting off the SDS monsters, that they wouldn't win. And what would happen after that? His family and the others' families would probably be the first ones to go if their children weren't there to protect them. Then there was the rest of Angel Grove and the world. The Machine Empire would use them as slaves or just get rid of them within seconds or blow up the Earth just because they could.

It was a terrible thought to have but one he couldn't quite get rid of.

"Adam! Stop!" Suddenly yanked into an upright position, Adam looked at Rocky in confusion. His best friend held onto his wrists so tightly his bones felt like they were creaking. "You were starting to glow again. "Don't give the Machine Empire what they want, what they need!"

"I can't help it," Adam defended himself. "Anything I think about…anything that could end up being obsessive…it gets stuck in my head and… and they get power off of that. I can't just stop thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"That, maybe, this may be the only time we actually have a chance of losing,"

"You can't think like that," Rocky said with a determined shake of his head. "If any of us start to think like that then things will go that way and we _can't_ have that happen." Bringing up his hand, he scratched the back of his neck. "But I can't say I haven't thought the same thing or that things haven't started to become too overwhelming."

"You mean with your Dad?" Adam asked.

Rocky nodded. "That and the future and not knowing if I'd make it to a future because of what we're doing." He took a deep breath through his nose and held out his arm, pushing back his shirt sleeve. "And I started to do something stupid."

Adam looked down at Rocky's wrist and his eyes widened, taking in all of the lines that stacked up his arm, towards his krelbow. Rocky nodded and lowered his sleeve once more. "Only Billy knows," he said to Adam's unasked questions. "I'm going to tell the others but…I don't know how…especially if I start to do it again."

"Thanks for telling me," Adam said.

"You're my best friend, why wouldn't I tell you? I mean, I kept it a secret from you for a while, but you never told me what you were thinking, either."

"I guess I'm just starting to become jaded." Adam gave a humorless laugh. "Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment."

"Keep thinking that and you might be able to make the SDS monster blow itself up," Rocky joked.

Adam started to laugh then paused. His eyebrows furrowed together as he thought about it. It wasn't such a silly idea; for the monsters to be defeated because of an over abundance of power. It was like the project he and Rocky had done back in Stone Canyon, where they tried to light up a light bulb with only a bike to do it. They managed to power it, but the first few bulbs they had used ended up blowing up because they couldn't figure out the perfect speed to maintain it. Finally they figured it out—mostly with Aisha's help—and got an A on the project.

Maybe that was the same thing they had to do for the SDS monsters.

"Rocky," Adam said slowly. "You're a genius."

Rocky looked pleasantly surprised.

...

..

.

Evie ran her hands over her hair as she paced across the floor of her room. Now that she had some time to herself, some time to recharge, she would think clearly again. This was the worst she had ever felt after using her powers to help out. Billy as right, things were getting worse for her and they needed to figure things out soon or else it would be too late.

She left her room and walked over to Tommy's and Jason's, knocking on the door repeatedly until it opened. She went in before either of them could invite her in and turned to face them. "We need to figure out what to do about the Gold Ranger powers," she stated.

Jason cleared his throat. "We were thinking about that too and unless Billy can find a way to transfer your powers…honestly, I don't know how we can be of any help."

Evie leveled her gaze at him for a long moment. "By now I think we all know that this isn't going to last much longer," she said evenly. "And there's plenty of things I want to do in this life. If this is the life I'm going to live out, then so be it, I took on these powers because they came to me for a reason. The person I took them from and whom I will give them too will have a certain amount of time with the powers, they get weaker and weaker each time they're passed on. I've had them for a long while so whomever I pass them to will have a shorter time with them than I did but will have enough time to figure things out before they have to pass it again."

She watched as Tommy and Jason exchanged glances and blanched slightly. There she was, taking over the role of leader again. She couldn't help it; part of her felt it was best because it was her powers that were causing her troubles and she knew how to deal with them. Another part of her knew it was because she was older than the other rangers; she had her career as an author going very well and didn't have to worry so much about her future rather than it being cut short when she couldn't say goodbye to her family.

It was part of the responsibility, but if there was any way to pass on that responsibility in a bid to help save eh world she would do it.

"Who did you get it from?" Tommy asked.

"There was this man on a distant planet I was able to get into contact with the help of General Norquist from NASADA," Evie explained. "He had it…" she waved her hand. "It's a long story, Billy knows it. And that's what I needed to tell you about. When the time comes and my powers are supposed to be passed, I want them to be passed onto Billy."

"Billy?" Jason repeated.

Evie nodded firmly. "I believe he's the best candidate for the powers. He's already working hard to figure out how the transfer can be done, if he had them I'm sure he'd work on how to prolong the effects of the powers as well." She took a breath. "As it is, I don't think this can be finished unless the gold ranger is there to help you."

Tommy crossed his arms, mimicking Jason's stance. "It sounds like you don't plan on going much further with us."

"It's not that I'm planning on anything, I'm just trying to be prepared. You never know when something might happen and with these monsters and the Machine Empire…you can't take it for granted. I'm just trying to cover my bases. The last thing that I'm asking for is that you make sure Billy is the one that gets my powers."

"If that's what you want," Jason said.

"It is."

"Okay." Jason nodded. Then his frown deepened and he tightened his grasp. "Let's just hope that we figure out a way to get rid of these guys before it gets to that. If we can find a way to beat them and keep your powers from draining you even further then that's the best way to go."

"Maybe not," Tommy remarked. Jason looked at him curiously didn't outright oppose what his best friend had said. "By now the Machine Empire may know everything we've already got coming. I don't mean to be a downer but that is a reality we may have to face at some point. I'm not saying to give up, but we have to think differently about this."

"The only solution I see at this minute is to keep fighting when they initiate the fight," Evie disagreed. "Or maybe even start a fight our own, draw them out. The better chance we have to get the upper hand the better."

Tommy tapped his chin. "She has a point," he mused. "Calling them out for a fight would give us the upper hand rather than being caught off guard as we always do whenever they come around. And if we had a plan ready for them by the time we draw them out…" he trailed off as Jason and Evie both gave him knowing looks. "Okay, we don't tell the others yet. We need all the rest we can get. But as soon as we figure out the best time, that's when we'll do it."

"Got it," Jason agreed.

...

..

.

King Mondo let out a scream of fury as he turned towards Invidia, Luxuria, and Gula. "HOW COULD YOU MESS UP SO BADLY?" He demanded. "YOU HAD THEM RIGHT WHERE WE NEEDED THEM!"

"That gold ranger is sssstronger than we thought," Invidia replied.

"The Gold Ranger has nothing to do with it," Queen Machina insisted. She moved up to her husband's side and glared at the mechanical monsters in front of them as well. "You're strong enough to defeat the gold ranger as well as the other rangers within a few blasts. But you lost your will to do it this time around, just because they got their zord together?"

"I promise we'll do a better job next time," Gula said, bowing his head.

"You certainly will," King Mondo stated. "Because Ira will be joining you as well. The four of you together will defeat the power rangers and we'll take over the Earth."

"Not unless we get to it first," Zedd said. He raised his Z-scepter as he walked over to King Mondo with Rita, Goldar, Rito and Scorpina following along behind him. "Your days of planning against the puny power rangers are over. You couldn't plan your way out of a paper bag!"

King Mondo glared and turned towards Zedd. "I welcome you into my home and this is how you repay me?" He growled.

"You may have swooped in at the right time to take on the rangers after the Zeo Crystals appeared but that does not make you the best ones to take them down. As a matter of fact, it's our turn to do it and we're going to take _you_ down to do it."

"Is that so."

"Precisely!"

King Mondo took a step back and tapped the end of his staff on the ground, causing Queen Machina, Archerina, Prince Gaskett, Orbus and Clank to rush forward meeting Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina in battle as Rita, Zedd, and King Mondo stood back and watched.

...

..

.


	70. Wrath

**Chapter 70**

_Wrath_

**A/N:** Ms-Strange Imagination owns the Gold Ranger Evie Caldwell

* * *

Avalon let out a long sigh and dropped her head back against the snow pile that rested behind her head. It was starting to be become very annoying how much she was falling on the ground. There had to be a way for her to actually stay up on a snowboard, or not find herself face planting each and every time she tried. Or else she was going to stop all together as she found that snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing were not synonymous.

Also, she hated the cold and their trip up to the mountain did nothing to change that. She should've known. Annoyed, Avalon sat up and ripped off her gloves and tossed them to the ground. Then she reached over and started to unbuckle her feet from the clamps that had her feet stuck to her snowboard.

"Are you giving up already?" Adam asked, coming to a stop by her side.

Avalon tilted her head back to look up at him, pointedly brushing away the layer of snow he had spread onto her. "Already?" She repeated. "We've been here for four days and I _still_ can't get the hang of this. I'm so tired of falling on my butt all the time. I think the mountain has a permanent imprint of my ass somewhere around here." She twisted back and forth to try and get off the ground but couldn't give herself enough room to push herself up, and then fell flat on her back once more.

Adam laughed and reached out his hands, grabbing onto Avalon's and pulled her up so that she was squatting over her board. Finally, she pushed herself up completely. "There you go."

"Thanks, Addo," Avalon replied. She reached out and patted him on the shoulder, breathing hard from her effort to get up. Reaching out, she grabbed the collar of her jacket and pulled it away so that she could become a little refreshed. "You guys all make this look so easy."

"It just takes some practice."

"And I've been practicing as long as we've been up here and it doesn't look like I'm getting better." Honestly, Avalon had no idea why she was so irritated about not being able to snowboard. It was just another thing on a list of things she couldn't do; like ice skate, or walk on stilts, or whistle, or ski. A lot. But this was really starting to tick her off. "I'm going to head inside and get something to drink, I'll catch up with you guys later."

"I can go with you."

"That's alright. I think Billy and Bailey headed back earlier today." Avalon smiled a little. "I think Bay got a little annoyed with how easily Fred was showing off. And how much he wanted to follow Tommy around." Laughing, she reached out and patted Adam on the shoulder before finally getting her feet free from the snowboard bindings. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "See you. Oh and if you see Tanya, tell her that I was looking for her? Last I saw she was out here with Kat, but I haven't seen them for a while."

"You got it." Avalon tried hard not to make a comment about it as she turned away.

It seemed to be obvious to everyone _but_ Tanya and Adam that he liked her. If anything it was probably the reason why Shawn was so possessive of the yellow ranger despite being a jerk in general. Even after they broke up he decided to stick around the resort with a condescending nose in the air as he spoke to other girls when Tanya 'just so happened' to be nearby. It was incredibly pathetic. To the point the rangers made sure to steer Tanya away from him if Shawn came too close.

Picking up her rented snowboard, Avalon tucked it under her arm and trudged her way back to the lodge. Snow filled her shoes with each step, no matter how many times she stopped to clear it, soaking her socks and making her toes freeze. At one point she was sure they had fallen off into her shoes and was relieved to know they were still there when she checked.

Finally, she made it back to the lodge and tossed her snowboard to the ground as she removed every restricting piece of snow gear on her. Pulling off her beanie she was annoyed all over again when she heard a low chuckle to the side and turned to face Jason.

"Do you _always_ have to laugh at me?" She asked, slapping it against the side of her leg.

"Only because you make it so easy, Avie," Jason pointed out.

"That's funny coming from you, Rudolph," Avalon quickly returned. She reached out and slapped him on the chest with her beanie. "Has your glowing red nose turned Emily off yet? I'm sure it's hard to miss something that turns that bright."

"No, no, me and Emily are fine," Jason replied. He looked over his shoulder; as if afraid she would hear their conversation and lowered his voice. "Now that I know she's not going to try and rob the place. I've been keeping an eye on her as much as I can while we've been here."

"Here's an idea, why don't you just spend _time_ with her instead of wondering and worrying over whether or not she's going to club you in the back of the head?" Avalon ran a hand through her hair. "I already told you, she and Eddie and the rest of those guys are the petty criminals. If anything they just like to make a mess and cause a scene, yeah? Just to get attention." She studied him. "Look, I get that things between us is kind of weird, but I wouldn't lie to you about this. I know I managed to get you into a lot of trouble with the Vipers before. But Emily isn't in the Vipers and these guys wouldn't even come _close_ to what the Vipers can do, yeah? So don't hold her away because of that."

Avalon pulled her hair back from her face and shook her head. "Trust me when I say holding yourself back from experiencing new things, or experiencing new people is one of the worst things you can do." With that, she stepped around Jason and continued into the lodge to find her boyfriend and sister. As she went she heard her phone start to ring but knew not to answer it.

As much as it made her a hypocrite she didn't want to answer the call in case it was her Dad. She was sure he had been dodging his calls if not just ignoring her completely from the many times she had called him. She didn't care anymore. He had given up on her and Bailey, stranded them in Angel Grove, and gave away his rights to them. She understood why he did it, her life was great now that she had been adopted by the Olivers, but it was still something she wouldn't ever wish on even her worst enemy. Having the idea of being someone that no one wanted was the worst, most crippling feeling or thought anyone could have.

And unfortunately, it was a thought that seemed to plague her day after day.

Running her hands over her face, Avalon let out a huff, feeling her temper flare. It was her own fault, she _had_ to remind herself of the bad decisions she had made in her life and what others made around her. Instead of dwelling she should've just moved forward and instead she would continue to make herself angry over it.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and looked up as Emily came her way. She waved and Emily, who seemed to start to walk right by her, slowed, tucking her snowboard under her arm. "Jason's looking for you," she explained. "He just went that way." She tossed her head in the direction the former ranger had just gone.

Emily looked Avalon up and down before nodding. "Thanks," She said shortly. She started to walk off again then stopped and took a few steps back. "And you can quiet watching me."

Avalon's eyebrows twitched and she kept her eyes as clear as they possibly could. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Now Emily rose and eyebrow as she lowered her snowboard to the floor. She leaned against it and lowered her voice. "I know that you've been watching me. I don't know why, but you have. Ever since you found saw me at the bookstore that day. And I know that you used to be part of the Vipers, seems that it's something people in California can't stop talking about; their gang problems. I'm not part of a gang and I'm never going to be. I'm not doing anything wrong, so stop following me."

Avalon managed to smile a little. "I'm not following you, Emily; I'm looking out for my friend. Considering some of the things we've been through I'm bloody cautious of anyone that comes around me, my sister, or my friends. It has nothing to do with you."

Emily tilted her head to the side, allowing her blonde hair to fall from her face. She looked at Avalon suspiciously and Avalon looked back at her, their eyes searching each other's. Finally Emily nodded a little and she pulled her snowboard back. "If that's what you want," She said.

A scowl came across Avalon's face. "I don't like Jason, Emily. He's all yours. He just wants to make sure that you're not throwing your life away like I almost did. He cares about you, Emily. Even though he doesn't know you that well he cares about you. Don't mess that up hanging out with guys who don't have your best interest at heart. Trust me when I say they'll turn their back on you as soon as they get the chance and you don't' want to get pulled down with that."

Stepping around Emily, Avalon continued into the lodge and found Bailey and Billy sitting in a back corner, talking over mugs of hot chocolate. Bailey noticed her coming and waved her way. Avalon walked over and dropped down into a seat next to her sister, who leaned in and studied her face.

"What's wrong?" Bailey asked.

"Nothing," Avalon practically spat. "I'm just having a really bad day." She pulled her hair off her forehead and sighed heavily, feeling a thick ball of emotion wedge its way into her chest. Then she started to clench and unclench her hands. "And I don't want to talk about it. It's bloody annoying."

"You don't want to talk about it?" Billy asked gently, pressing his hands around his mug.

"Not unless you want to have me snap at you at some point, no," Avalon said honestly. "As it is, I have something that I want to talk to you about, anyway." She took a deep breath and tried to keep the ball of emotion from turning into butterflies in her stomach. There wasn't a better time than now or else she would lose her nerve. Nevertheless she found her palms flooding with sweat and she frantically wiped them on the legs of her jeans.

Bailey watched her sister but didn't say anything, her eyes shifting over to Billy, who looked curious. "It sounds really important," he remarked.

"It's not so _important_ more than it is something I've wanted to say for a while," Avalon said slowly, already starting to feel herself wanting to change the subject. Not just because Bailey was there but because of what Billy said. He was right. It was as serious thing she needed to say to him. She had never said it to anyone outside of her family before and this was different. But she knew what she was feeling was real and she couldn't keep it quiet any longer.

"We were just talking about some ideas we had for the Machine Empire." Bailey started to gather her things together. "But this sounds like it might be something a little more important so I'll just go. We didn't really come up with anything anyway. I'll see you guys later." Before Billy or Avalon could react she got up from her seat and practically ran away from the table.

Billy chuckled as he turned back to Avalon. "I surmise she didn't want to be here for the conversation," he remarked. "Is it something you don't want her to hear?"

Avalon rested her chin in her hand. "I don't mind, really, she's going to find out anyway." She reached out her free hand and drummed it on the table. Why was she so scared about this? _Nothing_ scared her. Not putties, not Tengas, not Ivan Ooze, not any monster of foot soldier that came their way. But this? This was practically making her mute. "Um, I wanted to talk to you because I had something I want to say."

"Yeah, I think I got that by now, Ava," Billy pointed out.

"You're not making it any easier, Smurf." Billy laughed and motioned for her to keep going. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you that there was a point in my life where I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know who to trust and I was in a bad place. And despite all that, somehow I've managed to come to a place where I have friends and a family, and a great boyfriend." Billy smiled. "All something that I never thought I would have. And you're a big part of that; you weren't intimidated by me when we first met and you actually listened to me. I mean, _really_ listened."

Avalon took a deep breath, licking her lips. "And, I guess, I just wanted to thank you and to say…Billy…that I…I think I lo—"she was cut off by her communicator starting to beep. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered under her breath before answering it. "What's up, Zordon?"

"The Machine Empire sent out the rest of the monsters," Alpha replied. "Luxuria, Ira, Invidia, and Gula have appeared on the mountain again. Ay yi yi yi yi, King Mondo must really be trying hard to destroy you all. Be safe, rangers."

"You got it, Alpha," Avalon replied. "Come on." She and Billy left their table and hurried to an empty corner of the lodge. Billy looked around for a minute then nodded back to her, to let her know it was safe to morph.

"You get out there and Jason, Fred, Bailey, and I will get to the Command Center," he said. "Just remember not to let any of these monsters go into their beat form, that's when they become nearly invincible. We have the means to destroy these guys; we just have to figure out what it is."

"No worries, we're not going to let the Machine Empire win. It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger, VI, Orange!" With that, Avalon teleported onto the battlefield where her friends were already engaged in battle against the monsters. She faltered for a moment, noticing Ira; the lion along with them. It roared loudly and Avalon winced along with the others.

"You may have stopped us last time, rangers, but you're not going to stop us this time!" Gula cried, snorting loudly. He scraped his paw against the ground and Luxuria did the same. Ira stalked off to the side, starting to move to the rangers' side and Invidia slowly slithered to the rangers' other side.

"We now know how to defeat these guys," Tommy said to the others. "Don't let yourself get entrapped in what they can do to us. Are you guys ready?"

"Ready," came the unanimous reply.

Tommy nodded and the rangers rushed off into battle. He and Evie took on Invidia, Tanya and Kat went on to face Luxuria, Rocky and Adam worked on Gula, and Avalon took on Ira. The rangers fought as hard as they could, getting back to their feet when they were knocked to the ground and started to fight again. The SDS monsters continued to attack them with just as much power that the rangers were exhibiting on them. Invidia wrapped Tommy and Evie up in the rest of its body, squeezing the two as hard as it could before Evie took her staff and sent a bolt of gold lightning into the snake's side, causing it to let go.

Ira leapt back and forth no matter which direction Avalon moved, as if playing a sick game of cat and mouse. Finally it pounced on the orange zeo ranger, and she ducked forward, rolling underneath its body. Coming out on the other end she summoned her Zeo Power Scythe and slashed Ira across the back. Ira then roared loudly and turned around so swiftly that Avalon couldn't prepare herself before she was head butted in the stomach and knocked off her feet.

Rocky and Adam took turned with their Zeo Power Axe and Zeo Power Hatchets to hold off Gula. Every few seconds he tried to use his tusks to knock their weapons out of the way and then gore them. One of his tusks managed to get Rock on the arm, and Adam knocked him out of the way as Gula came back to try again, and struck him in the face with his hatchet. The two took a flying leap and launched themselves over Gula to attack him once more. But, quick as a bullet, he turned around and knocked them to the ground where they back rolled out of the way.

Kat and Tanya used an equal amount of Kat's defensive moves and Tanya's offensive moves to take down Luxuria, despite her still trying only to get to Kat. Kat continued to throw up her Zeo Power Disc and use it as a shield, knocking Luxuria out of the way, where Tanya would leap in and then follow it up with a slash of her Zeo Power Double Clubs. Luxuria growled as she took a step back.

"What's the matter, Katherine? Not getting enough love?" Luxuria snarled. "I can fix that for you, I can get you the man of your dream. The one you've wanted as soon as you met him."

"I don't want anything with _your_ help!" Kat replied. She pulled her arm back and threw her Power Disc as hard as she could. It circled through the air and struck Luxuria in the face, knocking her backwards and shot back into Kat's hand. She then kneeled down, holding onto the disc with both hands as Tanya ran over and leapt into the air. She landed atop the Power Disc and Kat pushed upwards as hard as she could, launching Tanya into the air.

"Hiya!" Tanya cried, swinging down with her double clubs. Luxuria turned around and lifted her back legs, catching Tanya in the chest and flung her backwards onto the ground before she whipped around once more and tackled Kat to the ground as well.

Tommy lifted his Zeo Power Sword and blocked Invidia's lightning quick attack, mouth wide open and fangs dripping with venom. The red zeo ranger groaned in pain as a drop of the venom landed on his arm and burned through his suit. Nevertheless, he turned his sword aside and slashed at Invidia once more. But then he reached back and turned his attention to Evie. She lifted her staff and sent bolt after bolt of lightning towards Invidia. Turning her head, she noticed his tail coming towards her and she leapt backwards out of the way then followed it up with another shot of lightning.

This time it struck Invidia's tail and sent a shockwave up it's entirely body, causing it to flail back and forth while it screamed in pain.

"Gotcha!" Evie cried. She pointed her staff towards Invidia as he twitched on the ground. "Let's see what we can really do now!"

"I don't think so!" Gula cried. As he charged towards Rocky and Adam he swiftly switched courses and ran towards Evie. She turned towards him and started to lift her staff, lightning bolts already shooting out towards him.

And that's where it went on.

The rangers watched in horror as Gula grabbed Evie's staff in its jaws and twisted its head to the side. The force of the twist caused Evie to go flying forward and onto the ground where Luxuria immediately stuck her afterwards with a blow from her lowered head. Evie fell to the ground, stunned, as Ira came up to her other side. He lifted his paw high over his head, nails gleaming.

"Evie!" Rocky cried.

"NO!" Tommy shouted.

Ira lowered its paw and struck Evie in the stomach in a gruesome slash that caused blood to fly through the air. Then everything seemed to move in slow motion. Ira lifted his paw once more and Evie's body was flung through the air and landed on the ground like a ragdoll, arms and legs motionless. Gula walked over and Evie and sniffed around her. Then he turned back to the other monsters.

"That's one down," he declared. "Now to destroy the others."

No.

Evie was dead?

She couldn't be dead.

The rangers had managed to go through numerous battles against monster and foot soldiers over the years. They had their zords destroyed and their powers depleted, saved Zordon from his own death, and faced all of that head on without a second of fear of what would happen. And now they knew. If their enemies worked well together; well enough so that a civilian, Billy's mother, and a ranger, Evie, had managed to be caught in the crossfire, then they weren't as safe as they thought.

Looking around, Avalon watched as her friends stared in shock at where Evie had been. Kat had fallen to her knees and the others had their heads turned away or tilted down, hands clenched. And yet none of them could move. She could hear heavy breathing through her helmet along with Bailey's soft crying. They must have shouted out in surprise and protest as well.

And as the rangers watched, Evie's lifeless body started to shine in a golden glow before disappearing into the sky.

Avalon gritted her teeth and felt her body start to shake. Then everything went black then red with rage and soon she had her Zeo Blaster in her hand and was sending shot after shot into the SDS monsters that were continuing to bide their time, watching the rangers carefully. Still, the rangers stared at the spot Evie had just been. Avalon reached up and pulled off her helmet, lowering it down to her chest and the other rangers did the same.

They were so silent it was almost eerie.

And still the monsters didn't attack.

Tommy licked his lips, turning to his friends. He started to speak, his voice breaking. He swallowed hard and started again. "I know this is hard," he said to them. "I know this is something we never thought would happen. But we can't give up, okay? We can't sit back and let these guys win. Not when…" he took another deep breath. "Not when Evie gave her life to help us. She knew her powers were failing, that things were getting harder and harder for her to be able to continue to be a ranger, but she still worked hard to help us. We didn't know her long, not as long as we should've been able to, not as long as _she_ should've been able to. And it was still a risk she was willing to take."

His upper lip started to quake with fury, a fire flashing through his eyes. "King Mondo and the Machine Empire thought something like this would tear us down. But it's done nothing but want me to fight harder. To make sure that _we can_ make Evie's sacrifice worth it, to make sure that we can keep everyone in Angel Grove and Earth safe. It's what we agreed upon when we first became rangers. It's what we believed when we got the Great Power; all things are possible. And we're going to avenge Evie."

There was another flash of golden light and this time, when it faded, the Gold Ranger stood kneeling on the ground. "I don't believe it," Tanya whispered, watching the figure turn around and slowly start to walk their way. "Evie?"

The Gold Ranger shook their head before bringing their hands up to pop the buckles on the side of their helmet. Then they pulled off the helmet to reveal Billy's face underneath. "Billy!" Adam cried.

Billy tucked the helmet under his arm and nodded solemnly, taking a deep breath. He gave a smile that was so fleeting Avalon wasn't sure it had even appeared on his face. It wasn't the time to smile. Tommy reached out and grasped Billy's shoulder, shaking it firmly.

"We're doing this for Evie," Tommy repeated. He turned back to the monsters and saw them starting to run their way. "Back to action!" The rangers put their helmets back on. "Let's do it, guys!"

"Zeo Power Disc!"

"Zeo Power Double Clubs!"

"Zeo Power Axe!"

"Zeo Power Hatchet!"

"Zeo Power Sword!"

"Zeo Power Scythe!"

"Let's put them together," Tommy declared. "Zeo Blaster!" The rangers quickly used their weapons to form the Zeo Blaster and the rangers came together to grab hold of the blaster. "Ready? Fire!" The light the blast of energy came from the zords and crashed into the remaining SDS monsters and caused them to fall backwards onto the ground, but not become destroyed yet.

"Golden Power Staff!" Billy called, thrusting the staff into the air. The red gem at the top glowed brightly and individual lights started to come from the glow. They then shot towards the Zeo Rangers and landed in their hands.

"Whoa," Rocky said as he looked at the one that rested in his hand. "What _is_ this?"

"Those are your new Super Zeo Crystals," Zordon explained. "The Golden Power Staff of the Gold Zeo Ranger has unlocked these new Zeo Crystals that will give you new power to aid you in your fight against the Machine Empire. Use them wisely."

"Let's take these beasts down," Adam declared, squeezing his hand around the Super Zeo Crystal as it glowed brightly, reflecting brightly against his helmet.

"You got it," Tanya agreed.

"We're not going to let these guys win," Kat added.

"The Machine Empire won't know what hit them," Avalon stated. "They'll be blown sky-high like Rita and Zedd."

"And we're just the ones that are going to make it happen," Tommy concluded. "We're tired of these guys taking over our city, destroying everything, _killing_ everyone we care about and love. This is for Evie and everyone in Angel Grove. Zeo Cannon!" The rangers held out their arms as the Zeo Cannon fell down into them. Tommy stood behind the others and pulled back a tray that would hold their power cells as the others held the cannon steady. "Let's put in the power cells!"

"Zeo VI, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo V, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo IV, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo III, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo II, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo I, Power Cell, Power up!"

"Zeo Cannon, fully charged, ready for action," Tommy said.

"Activate!" Kat, Adam, Tanya, Rocky, and Avalon said.

"Fire!"

The blast of the Zeo Cannon was more than blinding; it was a brilliant flash of power. The rage and heartbreak from the rangers, their wrath, and their rage at having lost one of their team members gave their Zeo Canon extra power. And it was the power of that wrath that shot out and crashed into the SDS monsters. There was an even brighter flash of light that made the rangers turn their heads away and shield their eyes. There was a low roaring sound accompanied by the ground rumbling under their feet, threatening to knock them off their feet. Finally, the rumbling stopped, the roaring sound ceased, and the light went away.

Lowering their arms, the rangers turned back to the area that monsters had just been in and found a large crater on the ground, completely empty.

The monsters were gone.

And they still had to deal with the fallout.

...

..

.

The funeral was set for the next weekend. The funeral for the rangers. The one no one else could know about. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. The rangers placed flowers of numerous colors inside the small box that was to be buried, Evie's body being used for the public funeral for friends and family and those who were fans of her books. Despite the nice weather and an even nicer ceremony, it was still hard for the rangers to go through.

As they stood around the hole that was the signifier for Evie's plot the rangers gave their silent thanks to the fallen ranger that had given up her life to help in their quest to keep pure evil from taking over the planet. Someone who had been fighting evil on her own then joined the team when needing help. And it was her that ended up helping the rangers more than they ever thought they would.

Evie certainly would not be forgotten.

And once the box that held the symbols to their fallen friend, they had a long moment of silence around the plot, with the rangers mentally thanking her for her hard work.

It took everything in Billy not to burst out crying. First his mother and then Evie, he was surprised he was able to stay standing, to keep from his wrath intact and not allow himself to break. Especially once Evie's body had been transferred to the Command Center and the Gold Ranger powers were immediately transferred to him. It was hard to watch the light dim from someone's eyes seconds before he felt that familiar surge of power that only newly acquired powers did. It was hard to watch Alpha's worried cries as he went over to Evie to make sure she as okay when she was, in fact, not.

It was hard.

And as he stood at the side of the grave with his friends, he didn't feel as alone as he had when at his mother's funeral. For better or worse he was starting to grieve, no matter how long it took. If only he could have done it before.

Arriving back at his house after the funeral he spoke with his father for a few minutes, reminding him how much he loved him. How glad he was that his father was still around for him and that he hadn't abandoned him. And David had cried and the two hugged each other as they grieved for their wife and mother who had been lost to them for some time and whom they would never forget.

It was then Billy made a decision, too. A decision for something he had held back for a long time. So he waited for the house to become quiet, for what he knew would be the right time and he called Avalon into his room saying he had something to tell her. But when she walked into his room, looking at him curiously, he found he didn't know what to say.

With all of his studies he knew there were many ways to say it, there were many words in his vocabulary that would perfectly articulate what he had wanted to say. But unbelievably he couldn't find the words. And he said as such.

So Avalon said, "Its okay, I think I know what you're trying to say." She let out a slow breath, crossing her arms. "And in light of what happened it might be the worst time to say it, because I don't ever want to besmirch what Evie did for us…but life's short. And with what we're doing there's a great chance that this could happen to any of us." She sniffed then started to trace the lightning bolt tattoo on the inside of her left wrist with her right hand. "And knowing that just makes me realize how much all of you guys really do mean to me. How much I love you guys. Because for a long time I didn't know what love was."

Avalon twisted her fingers together as she looked up at him. "I had no idea if it was even a real thing. I thought my mum and dad were in love and then I found out their relationship was essentially a lie. I found out a lot of things in my life were lies and I didn't want to open myself to that anymore. And then I met you and you managed to break down every single wall that I had put up and you didn't even really have to try. You were just being yourself and I love that about you. I love _you_ , Billy."

Billy reached out his hands and placed them on Avalon's face. He gently stroked her cheek with this thumb as he looked into her eyes and smiled. He opened his mouth and closed it and opened it and closed it again. Avalon lowered her gaze and he could feel her trembling under his hands as he tried to find his voice to answer her. Finally, he moved his thumbs under her jaw and lifted her chin so she could look at him again.

"I love you, too," he replied. "I just…I didn't know how to say it. And I wasn't sure, with these new monsters, if I'd get the chance." He watched as Avalon's eyes lit up. "I love you, too."

With that, Avalon grinned and stood on her tip-toes to give him a kiss which Billy eagerly returned, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, pulling her close. Avalon threw her arms around his neck and gently ran her fingers through his hair as the two stayed locked in their embrace. Then Billy started to take a few steps backwards before he sank down onto the edge of the bed and Avalon leaned over him, draping her arms over his shoulders as she did so. Reaching up, Billy grasped her ponytail and gently tugged on it before pulling out her scrunchie, allowing her long, thick hair to fall down around her shoulders.

Avalon chuckled to herself and tilted her head to get a better angle on the kiss, moving forward to straddle his waist as they continued their embrace. After a few minutes she reached down and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it up over his head. Billy then grasped Avalon's face in his once more, an unspoken question in his eyes.

Avalon responded by kissing him again, and pushed on his shoulder until he lay on his back.

* * *


	71. You Only Live Once

**Chapter 71**

_You Only Live Once_

**A/N:** Ms-Strange Imagination owns the Gold Ranger Evie Caldwell

* * *

Kat bent her knees and twisted her body to the side and her surfboard moved underneath as if an extension of her body. She bent down low as the wave started to curl down around her and she shot out the other end with a light spray gently hitting her in the face. She shook her wet hair from her face and stood up straight as the wave melded with the ocean and petered out. She lowered herself to her stomach and gently paddled over to Avalon, who was sitting on her own surfboard a few feet away.

"I should've noticed the wave was going to bottom out quicker," Kat remarked, sitting up. She gently swished the water with her feet. "I would've gotten more out of it."

"It was a good wave anyway, Kat, don't worry about it." Avalon used her wet hand to push her hair from her face. She turned her gaze aside for a moment and a comfortable silence fell between the two of them. "It's hard to think it's been two months," she remarked. "And since then we've done nothing but fight the Machine Empire over and over again with every monster they send down. It's gotten to the point that I've started to sleep with my hand on my morpher just in case we get woken up to deal with them."

"I know what you mean," Kat agreed. She shook her head and said softly, "I can get the image out of my head. Evie had only just started to help us and then…we didn't really know her that long at all but she was still someone special. And someone that had really helped us a lot. But that just makes me wonder what's going to happen to Billy now that he's the gold ranger. Evie said the powers were slowly killing her, does that mean its killing him too or whoever takes on the power after him?"

Avalon shrugged. "He's been putting a lot of time into the Command Center to figure that out himself. He still doesn't entirely know how the gold ranger's powers work in terms of being transferred." Kat nodded in agreement.

After Evie's passing and they had defeated the SDS monsters, the rangers had gone back to the Command Center to ask how Billy had managed to get the powers. He shrugged and said Evie's body had just shot the powers onto him, and Tommy and Jason revealed a conversation they had with Evie where she explained she wanted Billy to get the powers next if something happened to her. (Which opened another can of worms as the other rangers had been left in the dark about the conversation as well as Evie's choice of who the powers would go to next). Even Zordon and Alpha were confused as to how he was able to receive the powers when he had been unable to take on the Zeo powers in general.

It was then Bailey and Fred had come to the conclusion that it had to be similar to the powers of the Ankylosaurus from the Mighty Morphin' team where the source of the powers gave the ability of anyone that got their hands on the morpher to be able to morph. Good or bad.

And still Billy couldn't take that answer at face value and instead sought out to make sure the gold ranger powers didn't do to him that it did with Evie.

The rest of the rangers went on with their lives as if nothing had gone on, as if they hadn't lost a teammate and a friend. Out of respect to her family they didn't attend the funeral for her family and friends and instead paid their own respects. But they still had to move forward. Not forget what happened, but move forward. The rangers all gave increasing focus to their school work and their upcoming college applications and tests and where they would end up going in the future. To think their team would stay together and keep being rangers in Angel Grove wasn't a very smart thought.

If they weren't defeated by their enemies suspicions of their identities would get out. Them all deciding to go to university in or nearby Angel Grove with the power rangers still showing their presence would already be hard; but if they left and then the rangers disappeared would be even harder to explain.

And Kat didn't know what to do. She hadn't expected to stay in Angel Grove for so long or go form a minion underneath Rita to a hero in her own right. She always thought of going back to Australia for school, maybe even going into a dance program of some sort. Once she stopped diving competitively she had taken on dancing and enjoyed t as much as anything else. Opportunities like that came in through a lot of different avenues but there was one thing that would keep her in Angel Grove.

Kat felt herself start to blush as she thought about Tommy once more. It seemed that she was thinking about him more now, _after_ Luxuria had been defeated, rather than when she was under her spell. She had been so embarrassed by the way she had practically flung herself at the Red Zeo Ranger when she was struck with the power of the lust deadly sin. But considering how strongly her feelings for him were still there afterwards just proved that they were real. She hated how Tommy hung out with Heather while they were at the ski resort and in a late night conversation with Tanya admitted she was jealous.

Tommy didn't seem to think of her either way, but she still thought of him a lot.

"Billy's always worked hard on things like this; does he ever take some time off?" Kat asked.

"When I force him to," Avalon said with a half smile. She chuckled, pulling her hair back behind her ears. "Even David's started to demand that he treats it like a job where he can only work for a certain amount of hours before coming back home. I think the hardest part is that our parents know that we're putting our lives on the line every day and they can't do anything about it."

"You'd be right. My Mum and Dad watch the news every day to watch how our fights are going. I try to get them to stop, to get them to take some cover or go to the emergency evacuation places, but they won't do it."

"To be honest, at this point, I don' know how well the evacuation places are going to help. The Machine Empire knows how Angel Grove works inside and out, yeah? If they were smart they'd go after that knowledge." Then Avalon's face darkened. "I don't think they're going to give up until we're completely gone. They seem like a real threat this time, if they were able to come up with the SDS monsters. They were nearly as invincible as the Horoscope monsters."

"You're right," Kat said. She took in a deep breath of the salty sea air and closed her eyes. There was so much to think about but so little time. She would never trade her time as a power ranger for anything but maybe it was time to at least think of it. She opened her eyes once more and said, "I keep thinking about what would've happened if it was one of us that had…" she trailed off, still unable to say it. "I mean, if Evie hadn't—"

"I know what you mean, Kat, and I reckon I feel the same way. I try not to think about it, but seeing something like that in front of you." She shook her head. "It's hard to forget about. It's hard to think about anything in the world but the image of that happening. And since it wasn't you, you think about it even more. You focus on the 'what if's and the 'maybes' and everything you _shouldn't_ think about. But you can't. And it haunts you until the horrifying reality comes to mind that it's become so much of a part of you that you don't think about it anymore. And it'll always be there."

"You sound like you know a lot about it," Kat remarked. She didn't know why she said it. It was something that she had realized for a while; a nice and enjoyable of company that Avalon was there was something mysterious about her that she was clearly keeping from speaking about it.

"I do," Avalon confirmed. She closed her eyes for a minute, scratched her forehead, and dropped it to her board once more. Her fingers curled up and she gently started to scratch the wax off her board. "I used to be in a gang," she admitted. She turned her chin towards the scar on her shoulder. "I got into a lot of fights over turf. There were a lot of people who got hurt."

"Oh. Wow, I didn't…"

"It's not something I like to talk about. I was in a really bad place before I became a ranger. Actually, being a ranger saved me."

"How do you think?"

Now Avalon smiled. "Things would've been a lot worse for me if I stayed part of the Vipers. I probably would've been deported. Maybe Bailey would've been taken away. I might've been killed, which would've been much worse. There was a bloody lot of things that could've happened but being a ranger made me realize it was okay to ask for help and to take help even if you don't ask for it. Just like how we helped you from being under Rita's spell."

Kat chewed her lower lip. Not just because of finally knowing what it was the Orange Zeo Ranger was hiding, but because of what she was hiding as well. Rita's spell over her, that connection, it hadn't gone away and she didn't know if ever would. No matter what she did, no matter how many good deeds she accomplished, she could feel Rita in the back of her mind, waiting for her time to take control again. Even if she knew Rita wasn't strong enough to do it anymore, the fear was always going to be there.

"How do you get over that fear? That blood, stupid fear that things are going to continue going wrong for you even though everything around you is still going right?" Kat asked. She received a slap in the face of ocean water, causing her to gasp in surprise and jerk away from the Orange Zeo Ranger. Avalon laughed.

"You look forward, boofhead. Trust me when I say I've spent too much time worrying about my past instead of looking to the future. Your past will always be there but you can't let it run you."

Kat smiled and splashed her back.

.

..

...

Rocky ran his fingers over the inside of his wrist almost absentmindedly. Adam, who was sitting next to him, nudged him in the leg and Rocky immediately dropped his hand from his wrist and started to chew his fingernails. Adam rolled his eyes.

At least it as something different. The sound of chewing wasn't as bad as the sound of skin rubbing against skin like that. But he didn't blame Rocky for being so nervous. There were only a few conversations in life that made people this nervous and figuring out their options for college was certainly one of them. Adam already knew his options were pretty good; being someone who had spent so much time with martial arts as well as his time in Stone Canyon volunteering to help little kids learn as well as tutored them, he had plenty of places he could go. And at a cost that wasn't too high. Scholarships were inevitable with his grades.

Rocky on the other hand, was having a more difficult time figuring things out. Not only because he was part of a big family that had lived on a single mother's income for as long as he could remember; no child support. But _because_ he was the eldest of his siblings he couldn't go too far from them. But staying too close just meant he wouldn't be able to have the opportunity to live independently. Then there was scholarships, while he would be able to get some because of his grades, chances were he would still have to take out financial aid, which would be even harder on his family.

"From our last meeting Rocky, you indicated there were a few schools you wanted to apply to that may have been too far in terms of the distance you're willing to go. And there are others that you've expressed interest in that are also too close."

"That's right," Rocky agreed. He leaned back in his seat and regarded the guidance counselor with an expression of fatigue. Adam didn't think he had gotten a lot of sleep. The bags under his eyes had increased in darkness as the days went on since their ski trip. "My family is really important, but I need my independence too. I don't suppose my grades are making it too hard for me to go."

"No, Rocky, your grades are fine," The guidance counselor reassured him. "Your grades were never the issue. It's just, finances seems to be what's going to be the hardest for you. Especially as you've mentioned that you don't want to take out any loans." Rocky nodded. "Even if you got to a college or university in stage it's still going to cost a bit; room and board, food, your books, not to mention tuition for each year."

"And you don't think any scholarships are going to help?"

Adam tried not to wince as he heard the tone of his best friend's voice. He sounded very tiny, very weak, compared to the bravado and easygoing smile Rocky always showed. Still the blue Zeo Ranger was as sensitive as anyone would be to know he may not be able to further his education.

"I believe there are some that you'd be able to get," the guidance counselor said slowly. She shifted her gaze and looked at Adam, who looked away. He knew exactly what she was trying to get at and it certainly wasn't good. Nor was it really fair.

Whoever said someone's skin color or their ethnic background determined who did and didn't get scholarship opportunities deserved to be shot.

"However, I also believe that you may have some difficulty with finding them. Rocky, you've told me that your family is incredibly important to you and have also mentioned that you don't completely trust your father with your family. So that's an incredibly good reason not to go too far. Have you considered going to a community college before going to a university or maybe even going to work for a year?"

Rocky shook his head and held his face in his hands. That wasn't what he wanted or needed to hear. He took a deep breath and lifted his head once more. "I guess I still need to figure some things out," he remarked. "Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today."

"You're welcome, Rocky. I'll see you later."

Adam uncrossed his legs and stood up to follow Rocky out of the room. Once the door closed behind them, Rocky turned and punched the locker beside him. Adam jumped at the loud sound and turned, holding up his hands.

"Rocky—"

"Not now, Adam!" Rocky snapped back. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at him in dismay. "I have to get out of here, man. I can't stay in Angel Grove much longer. Not after what happened, not knowing there's so many…" he turned away. "I can't stay here anymore, Ad. We need to stop the Machine Empire and then I need to leave."

"I understand that, Rocky, but you can't let this get to you," Adam said in a tone as soothing as he could muster. He leaned over to try and get a look at his friends' wrists. As far as he could see Rocky didn't have any new wounds on him but he couldn't be too sure. "It's something that we were going to face at some point or another. There are so many people in Angel Grove and—"

"—And they've all been fine," Rocky interrupted. "We're supposed to be really strong and able to stop everything that comes our way. If we can't do that for one of our own why does it matter anymore?"

"Listen, I know it's hard. It's been hard for me, too. I haven't been able to sleep much; I can't stop thinking about what happened. But we have to keep…" he knew Rocky wasn't listening to him. "Rocky, have you been hurting yourself again?"

Rocky turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I know a lot has been going on with you; your Dad coming back, Aisha leaving, what happened with Evie, and I'm just afraid that you're—"

"—that I'm going to kill myself or something?" Rocky interrupted. His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Do you want to check my wrists every day? Oh, how about you just move into my house and keep watching me just to make sure that I don't try to off myself with my toothbrush or something? Or maybe jump in front of a blast the next time we're fighting against the Machine Empire so that I can be the next one to go?"

Adam reached out and grabbed onto Rocky's shoulders, holding him still. He looked into his friends eyes and gripped him firmly. "Rocky I'm afraid you're depressed and you need to talk to someone." He said it so firmly, almost yelling at him. Rocky blinked at him in surprise. "I don't want to see you get worse and neither does anyone else. You don't have to go if you don't want to, but you need to get some help. Maybe tell the others what you're doing to yourself. _Something_! But I can't sit back and watch. If you don't say something soon I'll go to your mother and tell her."

Before Rocky could respond there was a commotion on the other side of the hallway and the two exchanged a glance before following the source of the sound. The two found Shawn and Tanya arguing with each other, Shawn having thrown his books to the ground as he got into her face and continued to yell at her.

Tanya reached up and slapped Shawn's hand away from her face. "Don't speak to me like that," She spat. "You're not going to speak to me like that ever again."

"I'll speak to you however I want," Shawn demanded. "You're my girlfriend; you're supposed to make _me_ feel better."

Tanya whirled around to face him, her eyes flashing. "I've told you that I've been dealing with something especially hard for me. And that I'm not your girlfriend anymore, that you haven't been treating me right at all. Instead you turn things around to make it about you and you've hurt me, I don't want anything to do with you anymore, Shawn."

She turned back to her locker and ducked out of the way as Shawn moved to grab onto her arm. Reflexively, she grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto his back. "Don't _ever_ touch me again!" She looked up as there was the sound of a door closing.

"Miss. Sloan, I'd like to see you in my office," Mr. Kaplan said, crossing his arms as Shawn got off the ground. Shawn shot Tanya a smug look as he gathered his things and walked away. Tanya sighed and turned towards her locker to grab her backpack. She looked up, noticing Rocky and Adam." Hi guys," She greeted them quietly.

"Hey Tanya," Rocky replied. "Looks like you really gave Shawn the message this time."

"Yeah, let's just hope he gets it this time," Tanya agreed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were meeting with the college counselor, what are you doing here?"

"I was getting some extra tutoring and was just headed home. I guess Shawn followed me over here. And I guess if he still doesn't get the picture he'll want to stick around in detention with me."

Adam said to reassure her, "We'll visit you on your lockdown. Though it's really not fair."

"Don't worry about it. A couple of days off in return for putting him in his place is worth it."

.

..

...

Tommy ducked out of the way and grabbed onto Jason's arm to block the attack that was coming to his face. He tried to throw Jason over his arm and to the ground, but the teen blocked the grab. Backing away from each other the two watched for signs of attack then moved at the same time; striking out in kicks that collided in mid-air. They then moved back into their fighting positions, slapped their hands to their sides, and bowed to each other.

"Good job, man," Tommy said, grasping Jason's hand in his. "You really gave me a run for my money this time."

"Well, you can never beat me anyway, I'm just trying to make you feel better about it," Jason remarked with a smile. He grabbed his towel from the ground and ran it over his face, squinting as the sun reflected in his eyes once more. "And to keep you from barging into the house like a madman when you think Bailey and Fred have had too much time alone."

"Excuse me, but weren't you the one who did that same thing with Kim?" Tommy pointed out.

Jason smirked at him. "And look how that worked out." He grabbed the towel that Tommy tossed his way and threw it back. "So what's happening with you? How're the new Super Zeo Crystals working out?"

"The boost of power is amazing," Tommy admitted. "But I still feel like we're just hanging in there." He placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "We haven't really been fighting like a team lately and of course I know why. But I don't know what to say to help everyone. If you were still the leader what you would say?"

Jason looked taken aback for a second. "Well, the only thing that we dealt with like this was when we gave up our own powers to get our parents back from Rita," he said. A dark look came to his eyes. Or he was squinting even further, Tommy wasn't entirely sure. "And that was a really hard decision to make. At the time we didn't know if your Power Coin was still able to be used. I didn't think there was anything else we could do and giving away what would help us take down Rita was really hard. But it was a decision I knew I had to make. You'll know what to do when it comes to you, bro."

Tommy nodded.

"But something tells me that's not what you thinking about."

"You'd right." Closing his eyes for a minute, Tommy rested his hands atop his head. "When you gave your powers up did you ever think that you'd really do it? Like, if it weren't for your uncle would you have done it?"

Jason was silent for a long moment. "I think I would have eventually. The closer we got to the end of our time at school might've made me think so much about the future. Not that I'm not thinking about it _now_ but then you'd have to think about who to pass the powers on to. Or if that's even possible."

Tommy nodded in agreement. He opened his eyes, but continued to rest his hands atop his head. "We all need to think about out futures," Tommy explained. "Because life's short and you don't get a chance at it. Though I bet The Machine Empire is going to use any excuse they can to make the choice for us." All of a sudden there was a rumbling sound and the earth started to shake.

Tommy flung his arms out to hold himself to the couch and Bailey and Fred were bounced across the floor. Once the shaking stopped the two shielded their faces from the harsh light before staring.

Tommy felt his mouth drop open seconds before his hands clenched into fists. As he watched the sky, little metallic pods drifted closer and closer as the seconds passed. Tommy swallowed hard.

He was right when he said 'life was short'.

It looked like the Machine Empire wasn't going to wait much longer to invade Earth.


	72. The King's Reign

**Chapter 72**

_The King's Reign (1)_

**A/N:** Evie Caldwell is owned by Ms Strange-Imagination

* * *

Billy ducked out of the way as a blast of energy came flying towards him. He raced around the corner of the nearby building with Rocky, Adam, and Avalon right behind him. Once out of harm's way he pressed his back flat against the wall, sucking in deep breaths.

"What are we going to do now?" Rocky asked, leaning over with his hands on his knees. "These guys have been going around the city like this for days now. We can't keep running like this."

"You think I haven't figured that out yet?" Billy shot back. He ran his hands over his face, wiping sweat away. "But at this point, if we go to the Power Chamber then these cogs are just going to continue spreading out and taking as many people hostage as they can. Killing even more…we can stay in contact with our communicators but we can't go there. Not yet. Not until we figure out how many there are on the ground."

"Whatever you say, man," Adam agreed. "You're the brains of this operation."

"So what does the Big Brain plan to do about these guys?" Avalon asked. She pulled her hair behind her ears and peered around the corner of the building once more. "It's like you said, we have to deal with these guys. They've already taken people hostage and we can't afford to have anymore taken, yeah?" She took a deep breath. "The evacuation system has worked so far to make sure there weren't too many people that were still around Angel Grove when the Machine Empire's fleet came in."

"I just wish we knew what we were really up against. A fleet of cogs is bad enough but King Mondo can't be too far behind." Rocky pointed out.

"That's probably the point. A calm before a storm as it were. But in this case it's raining cogs and King Mondo has to be right behind them. We really need to catch up with Tommy and the others soon to come up with a game plan," Adam agreed.

Billy nodded. He moved to Avalon's side and looked around the corner of the building. He grimaced as space ships filled with cogs landed on the ground and the foot soldiers continued to pour out, adding to the already growing numbers within the city. It was smart for them to have split up so that the cogs wouldn't be able to get to them all at once, but it was hard for them to sit back and not take immediate action other than to gauge what they were doing.

"Looks like the best thing we can do right now is take care of these guys and meet up with the others," Billy finally said. "Give them something to worry about before King Mondo gets here."

"If he ever does," Rocky said.

"It's an enemy of the power rangers, mate, he will," Avalon pointed out. An expression of determination was on her face. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep these guys away from our city. You've got a plan?"

"Yes." Billy nodded. "Fight as long and hard as we can."

"You got it."

Adam and Rocky nodded and Billy nodded back.

"It's morphin' time!" The four called out in unison.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger VI, Orange!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

The four rangers morphed and raced out from behind the building and raced into battle with the cogs.

.

..

...

Tommy, Jason, Kat, and Tanya were locked in battle as well. With cogs swarming them in downtown Angel Grove they took down as many of them as they could. But as they fought, wave after wave of cogs continued to descend from the ships in the sky and land on the ground near them.

Jason let out a grunt of pain as he was hit hard in the chest and flung against a car behind him. The cog that was in front of him punched towards him and he bent out of the way, closing his eyes as a shower of glass shot out. He then turned and grabbed onto the arm of the cog and flipped him upwards so that it landed on the hood of the car. Electric sparks shot out as the cog's arm detached. He punched it hard in the chest before he was grabbed on the arm and pulled away.

Kat and Tanya tag-teamed as they went after a group of cogs that were in front of them. Kat ducked down and kicked up as hard as she could, knocking off the head of a cog before going to another one and grabbed it arm. She twisted around and pulled the cog over her shoulder and flung it to the ground. Tanya followed up with a strong punch down into the cog's chest then leapt upwards and struck another cog in the face with a flying kick. She then rolled over Kat's back and when she landed on her feet she delivered another strong punch to the stomach of another cog.

Tommy held his own as best as he could and for a while he was winning. Every cog that came his way he took them down with ease. Strong punches and kicks flew from the Red Zeo Ranger as the cogs continued to line up in front of him only to get knocked down again. He turned and saw even more coming his way and gave a small smile, readying himself for the attack. But what he wasn't ready for was the appearance of Goldar and Rito.

"What?" He asked before glaring. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Doing what we should've done a long time ago, ponytail," Rito declared. He laughed loudly as Goldar swung his sword towards Tommy. Tommy rolled out of the way and Rito laughed again. "Just what we needed!" He produced a bomb and threw it towards Tommy, where it immediately blew up and sending a grayish-green smoke over the ranger. He coughed, immediately breathing it in and his eyes started to roll in his head .Tommy shook his head and brought a hand up to his forehead.

Everything started to slant around him and he watched, stumbling, as Rito and Goldar started to walk towards him. _You have to fight it, Tommy. You can't save Angel Grove if you let them get the best of you._ The world continued to tilt and sway as he tried to keep himself upright. But then Goldar rushed forward and grabbed onto the neck of Tommy's shirt. He pulled him forward until the two were face to face.

"Now I finally have my hands on one of you," Goldar growled. "And I can do what I've wanted to do a long time ago!" He brought up his sword and turned it around so that the hilt was pointed towards Tommy. "Say goodnight, red ranger!" He smashed the hilt of the sword over into Tommy's head and he immediately went limp. Goldar laughed victoriously and lifted Tommy up over his shoulder. "Ha ha! Now that we've got a ranger we can take the step in our plan!"

"Tommy! No!" Kat cried in despair.

"You're not going to get away with this, Goldar," Jason declared. He, Kat, and Tanya raced towards the two monsters then stopped a few feet away.

Rito looked at Goldar then back at Jason. "We wanted to get you, but you don't have your powers anymore! Seems Goldar and Ed have some sort of a revenge plan they want against you. Your best buddy Tommy over here is the next best thing. But we'll make sure that he gets your message when he comes to. Then again, he may not remember you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tanya demanded.

"You'll see when things get rolling. Just keep our eyes peeled!"

Kat shook her head. She looked over at Tanya and the two nodded. "It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger I, Pink!" "Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!" The two summoned their zeo power weapons and started towards Rito and Goldar.

"Well, we'd love to stay and chat but we have some more work to do," Goldar said. He shifted Tommy higher up over his shoulder and he and Rito teleported from the area.

"No!" Jason cried.

Kat and Tanya came to a stop, staring at the empty space in front of them. Even the cogs disappeared at the same time that Goldar and Rito teleported. But not all the cogs were gone. The sounds of destruction still echoed around them; glass shattering and metal being ripped apart. Every now and then there was the sound of screams that showed other residents of Angel Grove had been found, unable to evacuate in time.

And still Kat stared at the empty place Tommy had just been. Underneath her helmet her jaw dropped as she stared. This was Tommy, their fearless leader who managed to come up with the answers they were always looking for and needed when in a jam. The one who could take every hit that came his way and fire it back with just as much fire power as before. And he had been taken so easily. Almost as if Rito and Goldar didn't care about the other rangers at all. They specifically only went for Tommy. That meant there was something big up their sleeves.

"Tommy," she whispered.

Jason growled and clenched his hands into fists. He shook his head.

"What are we going to do now?" Tanya asked.

Kat shook her head then reached up and pulled off her helmet. Slowly lowering it in her hands she turned her attention towards it. Her eyes roved over the screen that covered her eyes and protected her from every attack that came their way. Just as Tommy did for everyone. She blinked in surprise when she saw a droplet fall to the screen of her helmet. Then she closed her eyes and brought her helmet to her forehead, smearing the tear that was resting there.

"We need to get to the Power Chamber and see if Zordon and Alpha can track him down," Jason said. He uncurled his fists and ran them through his hair once before resting his hands atop his head. "Chances are they're going to place him in an area that'd be hard for us to get to. Another dimension maybe, and the Power Chamber is the only place that has the resources to do it."

"You got it," Tanya agreed. She walked over to Kat and placed her hand on the pink zeo ranger's shoulder. Kat opened her eyes and looked over at Tanya, who smiled gently at her.

Kat smiled back. "Let's do it."

.

..

...

Bailey shook her head as she looked over the screens in front of her. Fred, who stood at her side, shook his head as well, letting out a low curse under his breath. He took off his hat and threw it towards the control panel before turning towards Alpha, who stood at the control panel on the other side of the Power Chamber.

"Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha brought his hands to his chrome dome and shook his head. "Zordon, what do we do? Goldar and Rito have Tommy and we can't seem to track him at all."

"It appears that they may have taken Tommy to another dimension," Zordon replied. "Keep trying, Alpha. We've found the rangers in other dimensions before we can do it again. You musn't give up hope." Zordon looked over as there were bright flashes of light and the rangers teleported to the Power Chamber. Taking off their helmets they all started to talk at once.

"We know," Bailey said firmly, getting them all to stop speaking at once. "We've been watching this for days. You know, since we can't go out without the cogs attacking us." She shook her head. "These bloody guys are working better together now than ever. I can't figure out what it is that King Mondo is planning."

"Or what he wants with Tommy," Fred added. He sniffed loudly. "All we know is that they've got him somewhere. And that if Rito and Goldar are working with them then Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd have to be working with them, too."

"Not unless there's some elaborate scheme to overthrow them, yeah?" Bailey shook her head. "But even those two aren't that smart. She sighed heavily, bringing her hair back out of her face. "If I had my powers I'd—"

"Don't say that, Bay," Billy interrupted her. "None of us would know what'd happen. None of us could've known that the Machine Empire was really going to put something together as elaborately as this." Then he paused his eyes widening as he turned away. "But the SDS monsters—"

"We thought they were a distraction. We thought they were a distraction and we were right. It was the only reason that the SDS monsters were quick to be defeated. The last three of them. Yes, we were angry over what happened to Evie and we may have overpowered them to the point that it caused them to be weak but…if this was what was coming I wouldn't have put any attention into them."

"This is our fault," Kat said.

"Rangers!" Zordon's booming voice caught their attention. "No one could have anticipated this was what the Machine Empire was concocting. It isn't right for you to put the blame on yourselves. There was nothing you could do to stop Goldar and Rito. This was planned out, from the cogs' invasion down to kidnapping Tommy."

"But what is it that they want Tommy for? Out of everyone they could've gotten they went after Tommy and _only_ Tommy. They didn't try to attack and kidnap us," Adam pointed out.

"Take out the head of a snake and you've cut down the entire snake," Billy explained. He cleared his throat and the rangers powered down before walking over to their friends. He said something under his breath that sounded like 'I should've seen this coming'.

Bailey shook her head. "Billy, none of us knew they were going to do this."

"No, I mean that it's all a bit convenient that something like this would happen when there was already so much going on," Billy explained. "It's a simple distraction move that makes the other chalk things up to coincidence so that their opponent continues question their own motives and decisions."

"So you think that Evie's death was just a coincidence?" Bailey asked. Her eyebrows furrowed together before she shook her head. Her mind rattled at a mile a minute. No, that was sincere. It was as Evie had said, she had been given her powers from someone who had passed while the power had taken out their life force. Then she had ended up losing her life sooner than anticipated all because of the strength of the SDS Monsters.

"No," She mused. "Not a coincidence. This isn't something they had planned unless they knew about the gold ranger powers. And even Zordon and Alpha weren't entirely sure about it."

"So we already know that soon Billy will have to transfer his powers to someone else, too," Rocky blurted out, causing Billy to glare at him. Rocky ignored him and ran a hand over his face. "Okay, so what are we going to do?"

Fred grabbed his hat and replaced it on his head. A determined light filled his eyes as he caught Bailey's eye. Bailey tilted her head to the side for a minute then a wave of understanding reached her as she understood what it was "Well, we could cross-reference. Take a look at the past records—"

"—of the different battles the rangers have done where they were taken to different dimensions or even other planets—"Bailey broke in.

Fred snapped his fingers and pointed over at her. "Which means that there are only a few places they have at their disposal to get Tommy to—"

"—And if we can figure them out by the cross-referencing—"

"—Then we can narrow down where they've taken him—"

"—As well as potentially get a lock in on his power signature. Aka the footprint that we leave behind when we use our powers as they're connected from the morphing grid—"

"—So if we re-align the searching parameters—"

"—Then we can get a lock on Tommy."

Bailey and Fred high-fived as the others looked at them in confusion. They stared at the two for a few minutes then Tanya blinked rapidly. "Okay. I know I don't understand a lot of the customs and things over here, but is anyone else as confused as I am?"

"Welcome to my world," Avalon remarked with a light roll of her eyes. "But I have to live with this girl." She paused, bobbing her head back and forth. "As long as my plans continue to fail."

Bailey stuck her tongue out at her sister then turned serious once more. "No, this is going to work." She walked over to Billy and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You can help make this work right?"

"From what I've heard of your guys' explanation I think I can," Billy said. "But I'm definitely going to need yours and Fred's help to work it out."

"So what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Kat demanded. "Just sit here and wait for them to do whatever it is they're going to do with Tommy? We'll just sit here and do nothing."

"Hold on, no one said anything about doing nothing," Avalon broke in. Her eyes flashed with a determined fire as she turned away from Zordon. She started to pace back and forth, her boots making loud clomping noises as she went. She brought her hand up and rubbed her fingertips along the lightning bolt tattooed on the inside of her left wrist. "I'm not going to sit back and let them do whatever they want with my brother. Oh, hell, no."

"Whatever it is that these guys are doing to Tommy we're going to break him out of it," Jason said as he turned away from Zordon. Whether he was feeding off of Avalon's declaration or he was remembering his past of being a ranger that was consistently targeted by Rita and Zedd made Jason speak to the others in a loud, commanding voice.

Billy smiled as he looked over at Jason and turned his focus back to the numerous knobs and buttons in front of him. Bailey moved to his side and looked over the screen in front of her, running her finger over a tracking ball that shone around Angel Grove. _There has to be a way that we can find him,_ she thought. _These guys aren't so smart and even if Rita and Zedd are working with them._

"Right now we should keep working on the cogs," Adam pointed out. "Or else they're going to take over the city."

"And if we do that, it'll show the Machine Empire that we're not going to back down without a fight," Rocky added and the two high-fived.

"I agree. Tommy wouldn't want us to just sit back and act like there's nothing in the world we can do," Kat spoke up. "We have to fight as long and hard as we can. We can't just sit back and wait and ask a bunch of questions."

"Ay yi yi, you're going to make me drench my circuit boards," Alpha declared, wiping at the spot where his eyes would be if he had any.

"I'm very proud of all of you rangers," Zordon said to the team. He looked fondly down at them. "As time goes on you continue to work hard to protect the city as well as each other. I know this is something that continues to become increasingly difficult for you guys as time goes on and you move closer towards your future. But you continue to see each conflict head on. The Machine Empire isn't going to wait for you to make your decision and will do whatever it takes to lure you out. But I know you can figure out where Tommy is and return him to the team."

"You've got that right," Fred agreed with a fist pump.

Bailey smiled at him. When she turned to look at the map once more she noticed a faraway look in Billy's eyes. Almost as if he wasn't mentally there anymore. She reached out and waved a hand in front of his face and he blinked, looked at her, then shook his head, rubbing his eyes before going right back to work.

"So what do you need us to do first?" Rocky rubbed his hands together.

"The first thing we need is to get rid of the cogs," Jason declared, stepping back into the leadership role. "And make sure those who are still in Angel Grove are safe. Maybe take them to the convention center if we have to. There's too many people that aren't going to be able to get out now that the city is being overrun. They'll need a beacon of hope and we'll have to be there for them."

"And while you're doing that, we're going to figure out what the Machine Empire is doing," Bailey said with a determined nod. "We _have_ to."

"Keep us posted," Billy added.

"You're not coming with us, Billy?" Kat asked.

"I have to save my strength if we're going to go into battle and right now…it looks like we're about to go into a war."

.

..

...

King Mondo smiled towards Rita and Zedd as they walked over to the fallen Zeo ranger as he lay sprawled on the ground with cogs, Rito, and Goldar standing above him as guards. King Mondo flicked his head to the side and Goldar and Rito immediately scurried over to Rita and Zedd.

"How'd we do Ed?" Rito asked.

"It's _Zedd_ you Neanderthal!" Zedd snapped back.

Rita, on the other hand, reached out and placed her hand on Goldar's shoulder. "You did a good job this time. After years and years of you being a useless excuse of a golden monkey you've finally brought some good luck to me this time around." She then pushed Goldar out of her way and took a step up next to Zedd. "So what's the next part of the plan, Zeddy?"

"I'm not the ringmaster on this one, dear," Zedd growled in reply. "Why don't you ask King Mondo what he has up his sleeve?"

"Yes, dear. What do you have planned?" Queen Machina leaned against her husband and gently stroked his arm. "Now that we have one of the rangers we should be going after all of the other ones, right?"

"Wrong." King Mondo reached out with his staff and poked the red zeo ranger with it. There was a bright flash of red light and the ranger demorphed to Tommy. He groaned and shook his head but still didn't wake up. "We only need this one. The leader. The other will fall in with our plan with this one. Master Vile has his orders as it is and you'll get yours later." He poked Tommy one more time. "Right now, make sure that Angel Grove doesn't find a way to get back to its knees. When they do, they'll charge like a bull."


	73. The King's Hand

**Chapter 73**

_The King's Hand (2)_

* * *

"Is the device working?" Rita asked. She leaned forward and watched Tommy carefully as he continued to breathe quietly within the restraints that held him.

"As long as your influence was still within him then it shall work," King Mondo replied. He turned towards her. "If this works then we can go after the Pink one since you still have a hold on her, too. Two rangers are better than one."

"Yes, but the red ranger is the best one to go after," Zedd pointed out. He stretched his arms, rolling his head around his shoulders. "This one has been the one that's kept us from fulfilling _any_ of our plans. Each and every time we've been knocked down it's been because of the leadership of pure, innocent, _Tommy Oliver!"_ Zedd practically spat out the words, tightening his grasp on his staff. "Now that we have him in our clutches I'm not going to let him get away!"

"So what's the plan?" Queen Machina asked. "There's only so long that he can go against the other rangers. There _must_ be something else that we have up our sleeves as a backup plan in case this hold over him doesn't last long enough."

"Of course we have a plan," Kind Mondo pointed out. "We wouldn't have joined up with these nitwits if it wasn't for this idea." Rita and Zedd turned to glare at him. King Mondo shifted his attention to Master Ville who stood off to the side, quietly. "Do you know your part of the plan? Do you remember what we've talked about?"

"Yes, I remember," Master Ville said. He smiled evilly and brought his hand out from behind his back, holding up what appeared to be a clock. He lovingly ran his hand along the face of it. "And don't worry, I'll be in the right position at the right time."

"Excellent."

"Daddy?" Prince Sprocket tapped his father on the leg to get his attention. He wrung his hands together then looked up at his father curiously. "Are we going to attack the power rangers now? Are we? I can't wait to see them finally defeated!"

"No worries my son. I already have Prince Gasket and Archerina out to distract the rangers while we make sure this complete." King Mondo walked over to Tommy and looked him over. His chin rested on his chest, long hair falling over his shoulders. The contraption that rested on his head beeped quietly. If they had known it was that easy to subdue him they would've done it a long time ago. But that had been the point of sending out the Seven Deadly Sins monsters, to distract the rangers long enough to put their plan in motion.

And it helped their morale was already crushed from the destruction they managed to do over that one ranger. _Too bad it didn't stay down for too long,_ King Mondo added. He cleared his throat and reached out, tilting Tommy's head upwards. "I believe it's time. He's been here long enough and the rangers are already starting to tire from the cogs."

Zedd growled. "Goldar, kick the machine into maximum!"

"You got it, boss!" Goldar gave Zedd a thumbs up and walked to the far side of the room. He grabbed onto a lever and threw it. The lights dimmed and flashed as Tommy's body started to frantically jerk around. Muted grunts escaped from his mouth as he twisted back and forth, trying to release himself. King Mondo continued to watch.

It was a bit sadistic in a way. He watched as Tommy's body continued to write and jerk as if being electrocuted. As if his body was going through the worst form of torture possible. And Kind Mondo wanted it as painful as possible; he had done enough experiments on the inhabitants of the other planets he had taken over. Melding the mind, twisting and pulling at its restraints and the way it operated to make the person thing they were becoming someone or something else. There had been a few times where it hadn't worked and the aftermath was still dripping down the walls of the prisoner chambers their empty vessels were inevitably still chained up in.

Tommy started to scream, his movements becoming even more erratic and King Mondo nodded. He motioned towards Goldar once more and he rose the lever once more. Rito and Scorpina walked towards the ranger and removed the helmet. Once it was completely removed, Scorpina reached out and grasped Tommy's chin, lifting his head upwards. His eyes were half-closed, lashes fluttering every few seconds. His hair fell over his face and Scorpina gently brushed her hand along his face, pushing it back with the tender touch of a mother to a child.

Behind, her Goldar growled as he noticed the exchange.

Scorpina smiled and lowered her hand from Tommy's face. She slowly turned around to face Goldar. "Don't worry, dear," she said in a velvety smooth voice. You know there's nothing I want more for him to feel as much pain as possible. My truly tender touches are only for you."

Rito then made a loud choking sound, almost as if he were puking. He stopped when all eyes turned his way. "Sorry, must've have a bone caught in my throat." He mimed choking once more.

"Ignore those dunderheads!" Zedd declared. He violently gestured with his staff.

"I've learned to do it a long time ago," Rita added.

King Mondo ignored the two of them and walked closer to Tommy. "Can you hear me?" He asked. Tommy slowly raised and lowered his head in a dazed nod. "Good. Only listen to the sound of my voice. It's the one that's the most important. You're now under my spell and you won't be released until I say so. You're the only one that can destroy the Power Rangers; they're evil. They want to stop our efforts to save the world at all costs. Look, look at what they've done to your city."

He grasped Tommy by the arm and walked him over to a viewing screen on the other side of their lair. An image of Angel Grove popped up, showcasing the massive destruction that the Machine Empire and the cogs had managed to befall on the city. Tommy watched the footage in a daze.

"They did this. And they tried to destroy you. We made sure you were okay. You were recently attacked by the power rangers; your memory was damaged in the melee. They're the supreme evil in all of the universe and you fought them. The power rangers have been trying to destroy everything. We're the only things that can stand between them and the dominance of the universe. You're the last line of our defense."

"Then I must destroy them," Tommy mumbled. "I must not lose to the power rangers. They must be stopped! It's morphin' time!" He summoned his morphers and put them together. "Zeo Ranger V, Red!" Tommy transformed into the Red Zeo Ranger and clenched his hands into fists. "Those Power Rangers won't know what hit them."

Zedd let out a low chuckle. "Exactly," he murmured.

###

Avalon lowered her hands as she teleported into the Power Chamber. "I got Sharky out of Angel Grove. It wasn't easy though…" Trailing off, she shook her head then walked over to her friends as they stood at the control panels of the Power Chamber. "I tried to get Detective Stone, Bulk, and Skull out too but they said they couldn't leave when there was so much for them to do. Hopefully the blokes will be okay." She walked over to Billy and put her arm around his waist before leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "How's everything going here? Did you find him yet?"

Billy shook his head before he reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Nothing yet. And that only means that he may not be on Earth."

"Billy thinks that the Machine Empire have taken him up to their base," Jason explained. He crossed his arms and leaned against the panel in front of him. "If that's the case I don't know how we're going to get him back. The Machine Empire may have this as a plan; to capture all of us to make sure that we can't protect the city."

"If that were the case they would've tried to get the rest of us wouldn't they?" Rocky asked. He sounded just as tired as the rest of the rangers. Avalon's eyes shifted over to him and she frowned, seeing how intensely he was staring at the screen in front of him.

"Not necessarily," Bailey said. She grimaced as all eyes turned to her but she was still diplomatic with her answer. "Let's be honest here, Tommy is stronger than the rest of us have ever been. And the Machine Empire were smart to take him." She shook her head. "Those boofheads finally did something right."

"Yeah, well, it's not something that we should be congratulating them over," Kat said with a sharp edge to her tone. She cleared her throat and stared at the glowing screen in front of her. "C'mon Tommy, where are you?" She murmured. Tanya and Adam exchanged a worried glance and Tanya reached out, placing her hands on Kat's shoulders. Kat brushed her off.

"You've been working so hard these past few days, Kat," Tanya said gently. "Maybe you should take a break."

"Not until we find Tommy," Kat replied. She briefly closed her eyes, as if tyring to suppress a yawn that threatened its way to come out. "Besides, it's my fault that he was taken. If I was able to handle myself as a ranger than none of those would've happened."

"Kat, it's not your fault," Adam protested.

"Ay yi yi yi, Kat, no! Don't say that!" Alpha rapidly waved his hands.

"Why? It's the truth, isn't it?" Kat snapped back. Her light blue eyes welled with tears as she brought her hands up from the control panel in front of her. She wiped them away before they could fall. "If I could've gotten to him sooner or if I could've gotten rid of the cogs faster or…or bloody _something_ he would be here right now! And we wouldn't have to exhaust all of our resources just trying to find more people who may still be in the city."

"Yeah, but that's what's important right now," Adam pointed out. Though he did looked troubled. "We can't have the cogs or even Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina take anyone else we know hostage. At the moment, it's probably better that they have Tommy rather than anyone else."

"I can't believe you just said that."

"But it's the truth isn't it?" Jason interrupted. He removed the hand that was covering his mouth and gestured towards her. "By your logic Tommy's being take away would be my fault, too. I don't have any powers, I shouldn't have gone in to help you guys fight the cogs. Or at least I should've done a better job to be prepared for a sneak attack."

"Me too," Tanya added quietly.

Kat stayed silent.

"Look, guys, blaming yourselves isn't going to help anyone," Fred reminded them. He took off his hat and ran it through his hair. "'Cause I'm sure we can all find some sort of blame that our inaction has attributed to the foil we missed."

"Wow, he's just as smart as you are Bay. You picked a good one." All eyes turned towards Rocky in a glare and he smiled sheepishly before his smile faded. "Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit."

"Don't worry about it Rocky, I know what you were doing." Bailey sighed and slowly, almost lazily, pressed the buttons that were sitting in front of her. Avalon sighed and rested her hands atop her head. She closed her eyes. Fatigue was starting to set in with her, too. Her turn to run surveillance over Angel Grove had been just as eventful as the others. It seemed like cogs were now coming out of the wood work to be sure the rangers were as tired as ever.

 _It's like the SDS monsters all over again but this time the Machine Empire actually thought ahead,_ Avalon thought. She clenched her jaw and curled her hands into fists, still resting them atop her head. It angered her so much to see that one of them had fallen so easily, as if there wasn't anything any of them could do to stop it. It could've happened to any of them but still, seeing Tommy fall down like that? If no one was allowed to mess with her sister then certainly _no one_ was allowed to mess with her brother and the leader of their team. _They're not going to get away with this._

She turned and slammed her fist down on the control panel beside her so quickly it made the other rangers jump. Deep inside she could hear her inner tiger growl with disapproval but she ignored it. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Billy lift his gaze from the screen in front of him.

"If you still had your fire powers you certainly would've burned a hole through that, Ava," he remarked. "Look, we get that you're upset too—"

"I'm past upset, I'm furious," Avalon snapped back. She ran a hand through her hair. "But I'm not going to blame myself for it. We've done all we could to make sure everyone in Angel Grove was okay. There was a chance this could've happened to any of us. So stop fucking beating yourself up about it! What we _need_ to be doing is figure out a way to pinpoint Tommy's location and get him back here. _Or_ be prepared for whatever monster they're going to send down next."

"Rangers!" Zordon's voice boomed through the Power Chamber that turned all eyes his way. "I understand we're all dismayed by the Machine Empire getting Tommy in their grasps but it doesn't help if you're fighting each other. There is nothing that you can't do when you stand together, but if you allow yourselves to fall apart the city will be overrun by the Machine Empire."

"Zordon's right," Jason agreed. He cleared his throat. "I'm just as angry as the rest of you guys but Tommy wouldn't want that." He raised a hand as Kat snorted and rolled his eyes. "I know we've said that before and I know that these past couple of days have made it hard for us to figure out how to keep going. But we've made it this far we can keep going. Bickering is not going to solve anything so stop it now!"

"So what do you expect us to do?" Tanya asked.

Avalon thought for a moment. There definitely was something they could do that they haven't thought of yet. There were always difficult monsters they came across and knocked down one by one. Together and apart. And yet, they always managed to find a way to keep finding them. From Rita and Zedd it was obvious they were being watched. But from the Machine Empire it was as if they worked harder to do it. _How else would they have known we were up in the mountains…_ Avalon shifted so that she stood up straight. _Or that we were in Australia. Or how they knew we were in school and where to get to Billy's mum._ Suddenly understanding it, Avalon tilted her head to the side and exchanged a glance with Billy, who looked her way.

His eyebrows furrowed when he saw the expression on her face. "What's up, Ava? You look like you're about to go out and hit someone?"

"Hopefully I'll get to that soon, Smurf," Avalon said, waving him out of her way. "But this first. Rita and Zedd had been following us by watching us from the Moon Palace right? And that was only when we were out and about. But the Machine Empire knew absolutely every last thing we were going to do. They weren't just watching us they were monitoring us. Like through our power signatures; much like Zordon and Alpha can do."

"We already tried that, but we haven't gotten anything," Bailey pointed out.

Billy snapped his fingers. "Not by our brain signatures," he said.

Adam blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

"It's a fail-safe way to track us if the morphing grid ever goes down," Billy rushed to explain. He started to pace back and forth as he did so. "I invented it while I had time looking through your guys' zords. Not only was I able to make it so that your zords worked at a higher capacity of taking on damage, but in case they ever shut off it's to determine how much damage you yourself have taken. With the ways we've been thrown around over the years there is a likely chance that brain damage has occurred."

"In English, Billy," Rock insisted.

Billy smirked. "If this works out I can follow a path where the last known readings of Tommy's brainwaves have gone," he said. He turned to face his companion that stood nearby. "Alpha, can you do a scan over Tommy's brain waves?"

"I'm way ahead of you, Billy," Alpha replied. He stared to press a lot of buttons in front of him, letting out quick sounds of confusion as he did so. "Hmm. I'm not getting a reading." He continued to press a few more buttons. As the seconds continued to dwindle by Avalon glanced over at Kat, who was now chewing her bottom lips, hands clasped together in front of her. Avalon then looked over at Bailey, who was leaning over Alpha's shoulder, watching what he was doing, her other hand holding tightly onto Fred's.

Rocky and Adam stood huddled next to each other with expressions of concern on their faces.

"Wait! I'm getting something now," Alpha declared. "I'm picking up a residual brainwave pattern that could be Tommy's but…the waves are changing!"

"What do you meant he waves are changing?" Avalon demanded, taking a step forward. "How do brain waves change?" She turned to Zordon, her heart sinking by the second as he said, "If there are indeed Tommy's brainwaves then he's in great danger."

"What do you mean?" Tanya asked.

"The brain waves are being altered and at the rate they're going; Tommy won't be Tommy much longer."

Kat took a step forward. Her face now held an expression of quiet determination that Avalon had grown used to seeing when dealing with ranger responsibilities. The Orange Zeo Ranger slowly nodded, feeling her lips coming back in a smirk. Not a bad smirk, but one that made her feel like once they had a lock on Tommy they would be able to get him back with no questions asked.

That was the way the team always worked before and how it was going to work now.

"Then I'm going to go find him," Kat declared, taking another step forward. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. "I can't sit back and just watch him get his mind taken over by the Machine Empire or whatever it is they're trying to do."

Jason nodded. "I'll go with you. I might not have any powers but I know how to get through to him. I've let him do something like this one before and made the biggest mistake that nearly cost him everything."

Zordon nodded. "The rest of you will have to stay here to help track the brain waves."

"No way," Avalon declared, shaking her head. She clenched her hand into a fist once more. It started to shake with effort of her "No! We have to go out there and help them. As far as we know there are other cogs or monsters that are coming out the longer we're in here. We can' let them go on their own."

Jason grabbed onto Avalon's shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "Avie, listen. I've let Tommy down before and I promised him that I wouldn't do it again. We're going to get him back alright?"

"I know that, Jay! And that's not why we're letting you go alone. Fred and Bailey can stay here, they know their way around the equipment as well as Billy does. And we're going to need all the help we can get," Avalon insisted. "We're _all_ going."

"Very well, but you will need to move fast. We have his brain wave signatures from where he disappeared. If the Machine Empire really did something to him then there's a chance there's an even greater danger coming that you all wouldn't have expected. Be very careful and bring Tommy home safe. May the power protect you."

Kat nodded and took a deep breath. "It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!" Tanya called.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!" Rocky called.

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!" Adam called.

"Zeo Ranger, VI, Orange!" Avalon called.

"Gold Ranger Power!" Billy called.

The rangers and Jason teleported down to the area that Tommy had been seen before. "Keep your eyes peeled guys," Billy said, holding up his gloved hand as he shifted his head back and forth. His black and gold helmet reflected the light of the dying sun as he did so. "When things are this quiet they're definitely up to something."

"And there's no bones about it!" Rito declared as he, Goldar, Scorpina, Archerina, and Prince Gasket appeared out of the sky. "Get it? Bones?! Aw, I'm tickling my funny bone just thinking about it!"

"Goldar!" Jason shouted. "What did you do with Tommy?"

"Oh, you mean our new weapon?" Goldar demanded. He laughed loudly. "Let's see how you handle fighting one of your own!" He held his sword up in the air and there was a crackle of lightning. Tommy appeared on the ground in a low crouch and stood up, turning towards the rangers. Even morphed into his suit the other rangers could tell he was glaring menacingly at them.

"Tommy!" Kat cried.

"I wouldn't cheer just yet, looks like they've really done a number with his brain," Adam said. He sank into a fighting stance and clenched his hands. Avalon took a breath and fell into a fighting stance as well, around her she could see the other rangers do the same.

"We don't want to fight you, Tommy. We just want to help you get out of this," Rocky called.

"Get out of what?" Tommy called back, his voice deep with menace. "The only thing that's going to happen today is your ultimate destruction! You've already done enough to this city and I'm not going to let you continue your evil ways!"

Avalon shook her head. "They're controlling you, Tommy! You know we would never do anything to hurt Angel Grove. It's our home just as much as it is yours. They're doing something to your brain to make you think that you're on the good side. But the Machine Empire is the bloody enemy, remember?"

"The only enemies I have are the ones standing right in front of me!" Tommy lowered his arms and turned to look behind him as there was another blast of lighting, this time King Mondo, Queen Machina, Prince Sprocket, Orbus, Klank, and Master Ville appeared behind them. "And I've got my team backing me up."

"No, not them, too," Adam muttered.

"We're going to have to fight them," Jason declared. "It's the last thing I would want to do but we have no choice but to take Tommy down so that the rest of these guys will know that we're Listen to me Tommy, you're not with them! You're my friend!"

"Listen to me; I'm going to remove you and the rest of the evil from this world, forever!" He reached out his hand and summoned his Zeo Power Sword. "Welcome to your doom!"

"Tommy, they have you brainwashed!" Billy shouted.

Tommy brought his hand up the length of his Zeo Power Sword and the blade started to glow red. He then swung it out and a blast of red energy shot out towards the rangers. Avalon and the other rangers ducked and rolled out of the way of the blast that ripped through the ground and sent dirt flying. He then launched into an attack, heading straight for the rangers with Goldar, Rito, Scorpina, Prince Gasket, and Archerina right behind him.

Avalon rolled back to her feet and held out her hand. "Zeo Power Scythe!" She threw the chain of the sickle. Scorpina came to a stop when it wrapped around her neck, choking her. With that advantage, Avalon threw her to the ground before pulling back her other arm and threw the sickle. Scorpina brought her hands away from the chain and pulled up her sword, deflecting it. Scorpina grabbed onto the chain and pulled hard, sending Avalon to the ground next to her.

"Poor, poor Orange Blossom all trapped up, just waiting for a hornet to take its sweet nectar," Scorpina hissed. She rolled over, pulling on the end of the chain and got to her knees. She held her sword up towards Avalon's face and plunged it down. Twisting out of the way, Avalon cried out in pain as the sword struck her shoulder. "Oops, I spilled some."

Avalon's eyes flashed and she let go of her sickle. Placing her hands on the ground above her shoulders Avalon wrapped her legs around Scorpina's midsection and rolled backwards. Halfway up her arc she let go and sent Scorpina flying before rolling up to her feet. Scorpina grabbed her sword once more and the two went charging at each other, the metal on their weapons creating sparks as they clashed together.

Billy and Jason both went after Tommy in a tag-team with Jason staying further back away from the clashes of the Zeo Power Sword. Billy shuffled back and held out his hand. "Golden Power Staff!" It appeared in Billy's had and he brought it up to counter-attack from the attack Tommy sent his way. Billy pushed back with all his might and knocked Tommy backwards. Then Jason leapt in and kicked him in the back. Tommy stumbled forward and turned around to attack Jason this time.

That gave Billy time to study Tommy's fighting style at close range and figure out how to defeat it. Tommy and Jason had similar fighting styles and were able to consistently reverse each other's attacks and counter them when fighting each other. Back and forth they went with Jason ducking and weaving, leaning back and forth as Tommy slashed with his sword. Billy's eyes darted around. He watched Tommy closely then raised his staff once more.

"Let's see if you can handle this!" Billy held the sword tightly in his hands and shot a blast of golden electricity his way. Tommy, who was dodging another one of Jason's attacks lifted his sword and sent the blast back towards Billy.

Billy leapt high into the air and flipped over Tommy as Jason rolled out of the way. Then Billy was in on the fight, smiling to himself as he used Tommy's strong attacks back to him. Defensively, Billy was at the advantage with Tommy's powerful swings knocked him off balance each time he came for the gold ranger. Finally, Billy brought his staff up once more as Tommy brought down his power sword. As the two struggled to overpower each other Billy clenched his teeth in effort, feeling his arms start to quake and another bolt of golden lightning came out of the red gem on top. It struck Tommy in the chest and knocked him backwards onto the ground.

"Good one, Billy," Jason said to him.

"Thanks," Billy replied, breathing heavily. "But knowing Tommy, he's not done yet."

"Yeah, and neither are re," Jason agreed.

Goldar, Rito, Prince Gasket, and Archerina converged upon the other rangers. Goldar and Tanya swung around in wide circles as they attacked each other. Tanya was still a very inexperienced fighter compared to the others but was doing her best to keep the golden monkey from doing any more damage than he had already done. Rito, Prince Gasket, and Archerina were holding their own against Rocky, Adam, and Kat, even overpowering them in some cases. But the rangers would then come right back and continue to fight as long and as hard as they could.

"This is drawn on long enough," King Mondo said, watching from high above on the ledge as the rangers fought. "We need to move things faster along. Then we can move onto the next planet and the next planets and universe to take our rein. Ville, do you have the device?"

"Right here," Master Ville declared. He continued to run his hand over the device in his hands. The clock on the front continued to tick by with rapidly increasing speed as the seconds passed. "Enough to knock Angel Grove and the Power Rangers right off the map. Nothing can protect this world once they're all gone and when this device goes off they'll be incinerated into dust."

"Oh I've been waiting for this day for over 10,000 years!" Rita squealed with glee. She clasped her hands together. She leaned over and looped her arm through her husband's. "Oh Zeddy I can't believe it's finally happening!"

"Then lets move on with the next part of the plan and move things along even faster, my dear!" Zedd said. He lifted his staff and placed it together with Rita's. They started to glow with red energy that encompassed their length of their weapons. "Make our monsters grow!" They cried. There was a sudden flash of red light and they grew to the size of the large monsters they typically unleashed on the rangers. With loud laughter they turned and headed towards the city of Angel Grove.

"Yes! And now we will defeat you, rangers!" Tommy declared, watching as Rita and Zedd went off. He laughed even harder when he saw the minions underneath Rita and Zedd had increased in size as well.

"That's our cue! Ta ta, rangers!" Rito declared, his voice booming.

"Tick tock, rangers," Master Ville declared. "Soon Angel Grove is going to be just a tiny blip of destruction when we take over the world. Soon it'll be blown sky high!" He laughed victoriously along with the other villains as they headed towards the city, leaving the rangers behind.

Tommy turned back as the rangers encircled him and started to fight each of them one by one. On and on the battle waged until he suddenly stopped. A loud cry escaped Tommy as he slapped his hands to the sides of his helmet and fell to his knees. Then Kat cried out in pain as well, curling up into a ball.

"Kat!" Tanya called, rushing over to her. She grabbed onto her friend and cradled her in her arms. "Kat, what's going on?"

"Oh man, it's happening to Tommy, too," Jason said, watching from a short distance as he writhed on the ground as well. Every few seconds he grunted in pain and punched his fist against the ground.

"What's going on, Kat?" Avalon asked breathlessly.

"It's…it's Rita," Kat moaned. "I can hear her. She's….ah…she's trying to take me over again!" She cried out and rolled to her other side where Tommy was curled up. "Wha…what about Tommy? Is…is he okay?"

"Looks like he's going through the same thing you are, Kat," Adam said.

The two rangers continued to writhe and scream but as the seconds passed they started to subside into whimpers.

"Kat. Come on. What's going on with you? Are you okay?" Rocky grabbed her shoulders and held her tightly as she slowly lowered her hands from the sides of her helmet. "What's going on?"

"I heard…I heard Rita's voice," Kat whispered. She shook her head, placing her palms on the ground to steady herself. "I heard her voice. In my head. I could hear what she was saying out here but…it was louder in my head. As she was saying it, I could feel the same surge of evil I felt when she used to have control over me."

"That must be what happened with Tommy too. He was hearing everything the same as you were, with the same evil still inside of him," Avalon realized.

"So _that's_ what's been changing the brain waves," Billy deduced. "The brainwashing they already have over him and then Rita's mind controlling over him because he used to be the evil green ranger. And because Kat was under her power as well…" he trailed off. "We can use that."

"What?" Adam asked. "What does that mean?'

"It means…" Kat swallowed hard. "It means I can break through to Tommy."

* * *


	74. The King's Plan

**Chapter 74**

_The King's Plan (3)_

* * *

"We need Zeo Zord Power, now!"

The rangers summoned their zords and climbed into the cockpits all within a matter of seconds—with Avalon grumbling that she had to adjust her seat once more. Once they were behind the controls of their zords they merged the zords together to create the Super Zeo Megazord with Zeozord I creating the feet, Zeozord II creating the arms, head, and shoulders, Zeozord III creating the waist, Zeozord IV creating the lower legs, Zeozord V creating the chest, and Zeozord VI an extra piece of arsenal connected to its back.

"So what's the plan?" Adam asked, grabbing the controls within their cockpit of their zords. He turned towards the seat Tommy would've occupied.

"Right now we have to stop Rita and Zedd from destroying Angel Grove," Billy said from the cockpit of his zord, Pyramidas. "If they destroy the city there's not much else for us to fight for. Right now Tommy isn't doing anything that we need to immediately address."

"Jason, Bailey, Fred, we need you, Zordon, and Alpha to see if there's anything that can be done or created to reverse the mental hold that King Mondo has over Tommy," Avalon directed, falling into her role as second-in-command. "If we can get that done while dealing with these guys, that's be ace."

"We'll try our best, Av, but I can't guarantee anything," Bailey replied. She already sounded frustrated, as if she had been working out something already. "The inner workings of anyone's mind is already difficult to navigate but having a space witch who managed to control someone is even harder, yeah?"

"I'll take your word for it."

"Again, what's the plan?" Rocky asked as the rangers turned the zord and started in the direction hat Rita and Zedd had just gone, picking up speed by the second.

"Take down Rita and Zedd once and for all!" Avalon slammed her fist down atop a large button that sat in front of her. The heard shaped zord on the back of the Super Zeo Megazord opened and revealed a rocket that sat on the back. A flame erupted and a burst of speed sent the rangers flying towards Rita and Zedd, who cackled like hyenas as they continued to stomp towards Angel Grove.

The Super Zeo Megazord crashed into Zedd and knocked him forward onto the ground. The ground shook and trembled as he fell, causing the others to turn to the rangers. "Hey!" Rito swung his sword high into the air. "Who said you could come and crash our party? That's our job!"

"Looks like your party is getting cancelled," Tanya replied. The rangers lowered the Super Zeo Megazord to the ground and stood it in front of the five monsters. "We're not going to let you destroy our city."

"How about we destroy _you_ instead?" Rita asked gleefully. Her eyes widened as she lifted her magic wand, the red gleam glowing intensely. "There's nothing you can do to stop us now, rangers. We've got you cornered!"

With that, Scorpina, Rito, and Goldar started towards them with their swords raised and the rangers flew into action as well. The Super Zeo Megazord raced towards the three and immediately engaged in battle. They ducked out of the way of the flying swords and retaliated with hard punches and kicks. And they held their own for a while against the three monsters. Until Rito caused them to duck and roll out of the way of a swing and Goldar and Scorpina followed up with high jump kicks that knocked them to the ground.

"And the award goes to…" Rito pulled his sword back as far as it could go and brought it down on the face of the Super Zeo Megazord. The rangers cried out as the shockwave rippled through the megazord. Then Goldar and Scorpina moved beside him and the three started to stomp on the face of the megazord, laughing hysterically as they did so. "What's the matter, rangers? You look like you've seen better days!"

"You're looking a little down," Goldar added.

"Maybe you should pull your face out of the mud," Scorpina chuckled.

"Billy, we could use your help down here!" Kat cried.

"I'm on it!" Billy replied. He pulled Pyramidas around and shot blasts of golden energy out towards Rita and Zedd. They swung their wand and scepter around, trying to knock Pyramidas out of the air. Billy piloted the zord around once more and shot even more blasts of golden energy towards them. This time around, he purposefully shot around them so that when the blasts hit the ground so that a cloud of smoke flew up.

Then he crashed into Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina, knocking them out of the way so that the Super Zeo Megazord could get back to their feet. There was a large crack in the screen of the head of the zord, but otherwise it didn't appear too damaged. Inside the cockpit a warning siren continued to ring.

"What's going on?" Tanya called, slapping her hands over her ears.

"The hydraulics on the zord are starting to give. The effects of the blows that the three managed to put on you has ruptured a few of the lines," Fred explained. He paused. "It's not _too_ damaged, but the longer you guys continue to fight the harder it'll be for you to keep going."

"But we can't give up," Rocky decided. "If we don't stop them these guys will continue to stomp around Angel Grove destroying everything in sight."

Tanya let out a frustrated sigh. "What about the Machine Empire? King Mondo and the others are down there, too and Master Ville has that bomb that might blow up, too."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Adam snapped. He sounded as frustrated as the rest of the rangers. "There's too many of them for us to deal with, especially since they're all this big."

Avalon chewed her bottom lip, wracking her brain. What could they do? They were all right. Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito were already tough enough to deal with now that they were as big as the other monsters they typically had to face. Especially now that the rangers were now in one compacted area. But adding in King Mondo, Queen Machina, Archerina, Prince Gasket, Prince Sprocket, and Master Vile made it even harder. She had to think of what Tommy would do if he were in the position they were in. What he would do to get the upper hand on the monsters before them. Whatever it was she would've backed him up on it, just as she hoped the others would do, too.

"We'll have to split the zords apart," She finally decided. "If we don't, then these guys will just continue to knock us around until we fall apart. And that way we'll have a better chance of dealing with these guys ourselves. If we can destroy them with our new Super Zeo powers then we can focus on getting Tommy back and stopping the bomb that Master Vile has set off."

"Don't worry about the bomb," Jason said. "We're working on that along with seeing I we can get Tommy's brain back."

"Let's split them apart and take em' down!" Adam declared.

The rangers detached the zords from each other and stood them up in front of Rito, Goldar, Scorpina, Rita, and Zedd. The evil monsters all grinned back at the rangers. They weren't going to go down without a fight.

###

Bulk peered around the corner of a building, then turned back to Skull and Detective Stone, who leaned on the building beside him. Then he glanced at the survivors that kneeled with them, eyes wide with fear. Bulk looked at them a moment longer then turned back to face the front once more.

"Well?" Detective Stone hissed. "Do you see anything or not?"

Bulk shook his head. "Coast is clear," he relayed. "Let's go." He waved his arm and led the group out from around the building and raced down the street as quickly as he could. Skull and Detective Stone followed behind him, waving along the survivors as they went. They continued to run, their footsteps echoing along the empty streets as they raced to the waiting train.

Finally they reached it and the conductor leapt off, waving his hand to hurry them on. Once the last survivor was on the train the conductor jumped back on and started up the train once more, driving them out of town.

"I think that's the last of them from Hillwood Heights," Skull said, resting his hands on his hips to catch his breath.

"But there are plenty more places in this city to look through," Detective Stone added. He cleared his throat, running a hand over his face. A wear expression came up as his eyes darted around. "As a matter of fact we may have to look over the Youth Center once more; there may have been more people who decided to seek shelter there. Ernie said he would keep it open as long as he could."

"I don't think so!" The three turned around to find the Red Zeo Ranger standing behind them. With the face of his helmet lowered it was hard to determine the way he was looking at them. But considering how quiet and still he was as they turned towards him, it couldn't be good.

"It's the red ranger!" Detective Stone breathed.

"But he doesn't look too happy to see us," Bulk added.

There was something wrong. He could see that much. He knew the identities of those behind the ranger suits and he knew Tommy wouldn't do something like this. He would've helped everyone be evacuated from the city or take down those massively huge monsters that came out of nowhere. And yet here he was. "You're getting in the way of what the Machine Empire's plan to take over Angel Grove," Tommy added.

"You don't need this innocent people to do that," Skull declared.

"Oh, but we do. The more people we have in our control will make the Machine Empire even stronger. We'll be able to build a base out here in Angel Grove and slowly take over the world. I'm not going to let you get in the way of what my Master wants. He's going to take over this city and then take over the planet before moving onto the next one."

Detective Stone suddenly whipped a pistol out from its holster and kneeled down on the ground. He squeezed one eye shut and fired twice at the red ranger. Tommy reached out his hands and moved them in a quick zig-zag around his face. Then he lowered his hand and turned it over, opening his palm. The bullets dropped to the ground.

Tommy them brought his hands up to his face once more before he launched forward in an attack against the three police officers. Bulk shuffled out of the way and pulled out his nightstick. He swung it towards Tommy's head but he ducked out of the way and set his sights on Skull and Detective Stone. Lifting his foot in a kick, Tommy knocked the gun out of Detective Stone's hands and the two were locked in hand-to-hand combat. Despite Tommy's years of practicing martial arts, Detective Stone had also trained in boxing, making him a formidable foe against the red ranger. The two moved back and forth along the ground as they tried to get the upper hand on each other.

Bulk then came up behind Tommy and flung his nightstick in front of Tommy's face. He lowered it down over his neck and grabbed onto the ends of it, pulling hard. Tommy started to choke and brought his hands up to pull the nightstick off. Skull reached out with his foot and kicked Tommy in the shin before kicking him behind the knee, dragging him to the ground.

Pulling out a pair of handcuffs, Skull tried to get a good grasp on Tommy's hands. The effort was fruitless as Tommy reached up with his legs and wrapped them around Skull's neck. He leaned backwards, using Bulk's weight against him, and the three fell over, with Skull being flung overhead. Bulk let out a low grunt and released Tommy from his grasp as he wind was knocked out of him. Now free, Tommy did a kick-up back to his feet and crouched low, staring hard at Detective Stone.

"You're interfering with the Machine Empire," he growled. "I can't let that happen."

All of a sudden he started to twitch, bringing his hands up to the sides of his helmet. He swayed back and forth, crying out in pain before falling to his knees. He continued to write before bringing his helmet down to the ground and crying out once more. It took Bulk a few seconds before he realized what it was he was saying. "Help," he grunted. "Help…me…I can't….I can't…stop myself."

He continued to shake.

Bulk rolled onto his side and watched as Tommy continued to twist back and forth. His ramblings continued to increase in volume until he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Then he grabbed the blaster in the holster of his suit and turned it towards Detective Stone, who held up his hands, taking a step back.

"You can't stop the Machine Empire," he growled. "No one can and no one will! Jet cycle!" A red motorcycle appeared out of the air and Tommy swung his leg over it, nestling into the seat. He revved the engine and pulled the cycle up into a wheelie before tearing off the down the street.

"Bulkie! Bulkie! Are you okay?" Skull kneeled down by Bulk's side and hauled him to his feet. Bulk carefully leaned against his best friend's side and turned in the direction the red ranger had gone.

"I'm fine," Bulk replied. "But there's seriously something wrong with that guy. Didn't you hear him calling for help?"

"I heard it," Detective Stone declared. He lifted his gaze towards the zords and monsters that were fighting in the distance. "This looks like something they'll need held with. Let's get to the Youth Center and see if there's anything we can do. The rest we'll have to leave up to the rangers and hope they can handle it from here."

###

"Rangers, you need to return to the Power Chamber immediately!" Zordon's voice boomed through the Power Chamber, causing Bailey to wince.

Her shoulders shot up to her ears before she shook her head and turned her attention back to the screen in front of her. Fred leaned against her side, staring down at it before looking up at the viewing globe, which showed the rangers fighting as hard as they could against the monsters that had plagued them for years. "Do you think this is going to work?" He asked.

Bailey shrugged and shook her head. "We won't know until we try, mate," she replied. "If anything that'll help us figure out a way to at least stall for time."

"And the only thing we're low on is time. We don't have a choice but to try it out," Jason added. Bailey and Fred nodded and looked over as there were flashes of light and the rangers appeared in the Power Chamber, helmets off and breathing hard.

"Zordon, what are we going to do?" Tanya asked. "These guys are stronger than we thought _and_ we still have Master Vile and the Machine Empire to deal with. I hate to say this, but I don't think we can win."

"You mustn't give up, Tanya, there's always something that can be done. Ay yi yi yi. We can't let Tommy down." Alpha started to pace back and forth, waving his hands in worry. "Zordon, what are we going to do?"

"Bailey and Fred have something that I believe will help, but it is something that will need to be don as soon as possible," Zordon explained. Bailey took in a deep breath as all eyes turned her way and she said, "We don't know for sure if it will work, but it's something that should be able to at least give us the upper hand and give you all a power boost."

"Well, what is it?" Rocky asked. "Don't leave us in the dark, here; these guys are wreaking more havoc than I even thought was possible. It's like my little brother and sister have decided to create their city out of building blocks and are starting to kick them all down."

"That's a pretty good analogy, Rocky," Billy congratulated him. He rubbed his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Actually, you may be onto something here. Whenever a kid is playing a game like this they're not particularly focused on what they're doing other than the loose rules of setting them up to knock them down. And right now it doesn't appear that the Machine Empire has anything planned other than to, as we've all heard, take over Angel Grove."

"That's what we noticed, too," Bailey said. She motioned between herself and Fred. "We've been watching you guys out there and these guys aren't doing anything other than destroying the city. Whatever it is the rest of them has planned only King Mondo knows. But Master Vile is the one that is guarding and watching the bomb they have planet."

"And this kind of bomb has the powr to wipe out Angel Grove in its entirety," Fred broke in. "So that's a lot of power, right? What if we found a way to redirect that power?"

"What do you mean?" Avalon demanded.

"What if we managed to take the power from the bomb and use it to our advantage? Remember when we were able to bring Zordon back to life after we tapped into our ninjetti powers? What if we were able to do the same with the bomb? I have this device that I think may work in terms of reversing the energy output they have, but it'll need some energy from the morphing grid to do so." Bailey paused for a second. "Your energy."

"Wait a minute, if we do that, what'll happen to Tommy?" Kat asked, her soft voice bringing all eyes her way. "He's still under their control, what happens if we don't break them out of it by the time the bomb goes off? If this idea will really work?"

"It'll work," Bailey said firmly. "I know it will. And if we don't break him out of the mind control before it goes off well…it could do the same as it did with Zordon and revert him back to our side or…or it might destroy him along with the rest of the Machine Empire. But that's a risk we might have to take."

"It won't be a risk, we'll snap him out of it," Kat insisted. "Like I said, I know how to get him back to our side. I can reach out to him. I just need a chance to do it. We can't let him get wrapped up in the others if this is going to work."

Adam looked away from Kat for a moment. He took a deep breath and turned back to Kat, almost pained to ask, "What if your idea doesn't work and you get…caught up with them?"

"That's the risk I'll have to take," Kat said firmly. She held up a hand as the rangers started to protest. "No, we don't have a choice. If we're going to get Tommy out of there then we'll have to do something drastic. And if I get caught up…then that's what'll happen. But at least we tried. I wouldn't have a good conscience if I didn't try anything. But something tells me Master Vile will make sure it doesn't happen." She turned to her mentor. "Zordon, can you get a lock on Tommy?"

"No problem, Katherine," Alpha said. He pressed a few buttons on a control panel then nodded. "Take a look at the viewing globe." The rangers turned around and watched the video footage of the red ranger. "it looks like Tommy was last seen fighting against Bulk and Skull."

"And Lt. Stone," Rocky added.

"Detective," Avalon corrected him. "He was promoted."

"It looks like he's having some trouble," Billy pointed out. He pointed towards the screen. "Look, he's holding his head again. The last time that happened, he and Kat were able to hear Rita's voice in their heads. She still has a hold on them. Kat has a plan of using that connection to get to Tommy."

"It'll work," Kat insisted. "I just need to get to Tommy. Do you know where he is now?"

"It appears that he's heading towards Master Vile. The Machine Empire haven't been seen for so long, they must've gone back to the Royal House of Gadgetry and are waiting for their time to come down and strike once more."

"Beauty. I'm going to go find him."

"Then I'll go with you," Avalon said."If we need to get these two closer to the bomb and you to the red ranger you'll need someone to watch your back. The others can deal with Goldar and them."

"Then for now we'll have to hold back on using the zords. There isn't enough power in them right now to continue to fight them," Billy said. "And if Bay's idea works then maybe they'll get a power boost as well. Right now I don't have the time to fix the hydraulics and if we continue to use them in the state they're in, it'll just cause irreversible damage to their mechanics." He started to say something else but stopped, eyes squeezing shut and a hand flying to his chest as he started to glow gold.

"Whoa, Billy, are you okay, man?" Jason grabbed Billy's arm to hold him up as he slowly started to sink to the ground.

"Yeah," Billy grunted. He managed to open one eye. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess…these powers are taking more out of me than I thought."

"Then we'll have to move quickly," Zordon declared. "Remember rangers, Alpha and I are here to help you. And you have allies out in Angel Grove that are fighting for your cause as well. You must not give up or the Machine Empire will win. No matter what happens may the power protect you."

"Are you ready?" Avalon asked Bailey. Bailey took a deep breath and nodded. She wasn't a ranger anymore but this was something they had to do. "Back to action!" The rangers replaced their helmets and summoned their jet cycles to go back into battle.

Avalon and Kat drove their jet cycles to where Master Vile had been left to guard the bomb. He turned towards them and glared. "Finally you decided to announce your presence. I was wondering how long it would be for my turn to take you down."

"You should've done it ages ago, mate," Avalon called. She revved the engine on her bike and gently pushed her foot forward. "Before we got the Zeo powers. But it's too late for you, now."

"Are you sure about that?" Master Vile laughed as a row of cogs appeared in front of them. Bailey gulped and wrapped her arms tightly around her sister. This was going to be really hard for them to take down along with Master Vile and the bomb with them as well. She looked over to the back of Fred's bike and saw he was watching the cogs as well.

Bailey made sure the device was still strapped to her body before she climbed off of her jet cycle with Fred right behind her. "We'll take care of the cogs!" She declared. "You hold off Master Vile and Tommy when he gets here!" With that she raced forward and jumped high, landing on a cog's chest with both feet. As it fell back and hit the ground she bent her knees to absorb the impact and leapt upwards, flipping high.

Landing on the ground, she spun her leg out in a judo sweep and knocked another cog to the ground. Hearing the sound of a revving engine she looked up to find Avalon and Kat race towards Master Vile, kicking up dirt behind them. Bailey made quick work through the row of cogs that were in her way, using their wild and jerky movements to her advantage and debilitated them with strong punches to the stomach that short-circuited their movements. Finally, she and Fred managed to get by the cogs and over to the bomb that continued to count down.

"That's not good," Fred remarked, seeing the timer. "There's not a lot of time left."

"So we'll have to move fast." Bailey pulled the device off of its holder and held it up to the bomb. She frowned as the scanner atop the device started to go haywire, showcasing static. "Oh boy," she muttered.

"What?"

"The energy output of this bomb, that this is reading, is much higher than the device. Sort of like if you have a significantly higher power source than an electronic can handle and it shorts out. We need the energy output to be of the same voltage or else our device will blow." She sighed hard. "This means it's going to take more time before we can figure out how to detonate it properly."

"Then we need to get started."

###

Kat turned her jet cycle around to take another pass at Master Vile, but was suddenly knocked to the ground with a strong kick to the chest. Her pink jet cycle skidded across the ground and Avalon jerked her bike away from running it over.

"Kat!" She called as she went.

"I'm okay," Kat called back. She got to her knees, turning her attention to Tommy, who slowly raised himself to his feet after having crouched low on the ground. "Keep going after Master Vile." She watched as Avalon nodded and zoomed towards Master Vile once more, who raced towards her as well. Kat then turned and held her hand out towards Tommy as she got to her feet as well. "Tommy, listen to me!" She called.

"Tommy isn't here anymore," he replied, voice low and dark. "I'm the King of the Machine Empire and I'm not going to let anyone take it down. Not even you. You pesky rangers aren't going to get in the way of our plans and destroy Angel Grove."

"Tommy, we're your friends," Kat declared. She continued to hold her hand up as Tommy stood in front of her. "I'm trying to help you. You're not the King of the Machine Empire. Look at your suit, you're a ranger just like me. We're trying to _save_ Angel Grove, not destroy it."

"Liar!" Tommy snarled. He started to walk towards her. "You want to destroy this city and everything within it. I'm not going to let you do that anymore. I'm not going to let you win!" He held out his hand. "Zeo Power Sword!"

"Zeo Power Disc!" Kat summoned her weapon and ducked low as Tommy raced towards her. He stepped atop the Power Disc and Kat pushed upwards, launching Tommy into the air. He flipped around and slashed his word toward her, which she deflected with a quick twist of her arm. Tommy immediately came back and swung his sword down again. He slowly put more pressure on the sword, pushing down as hard as he could while Kat struggled to equal the force brought upon her. "Tommy, you need to listen to me. King Mondo is controlling you. He's trying to brainwash you against us."

Tommy backed away and spun his sword in his hands. Then he came flying towards her once more, swinging his sword back and forth with Kat blocking each attack. At one point he started to bring his sword down then caught her off guard with a kick that swept her feet out from beneath her. Kat crashed to the ground and held up her power disc as Tommy came down upon her once more.

"Tommy!" Kat reached up and pressed a button on the side of her helmet that allowed the screen to slide up, showing her eyes to him. "You need to listen. I promise you I'm not lying. You're being brainwashed. Because you had your mind altered by Rita when you were the evil green ranger. Now that she's working for King Mondo it's made it even easier for your brain to be susceptible to the torture that the Machine Empire was putting on you. I know how it feels, I was taken over by Rita too, you don't have control over your body. But there's a part of you in there that I know is still Tommy."

Tommy looked back at her but didn't say anything.

"Think of it, concentrate on the way you felt when Rita took you over the first time. Think of how hard you tried to fight it. And focus on my voice. Focus on those two things and you'll come back out of it."

"No…" Tommy murmured.

"Yes," Kat insisted. "You're my friend, Tommy. You've led us through so many battles and we've always managed to come out on top because of you. And we're still here to help you. You have to know that. We don't want anything to happen to you."

"No!" Dropping his power sword, Tommy turned away and grabbed his helmet once more. "No, no, no!" He felt his knees once more and Kat hurried to his side, grabbing onto his hands. "I can't…I can't…The Machine Empire is under my ruling and I can't let you defeat us!"

"And I can't let you destroy Angel Grove," Kat replied, holding tighter onto her friend.

Tommy continued to struggle against her grasp, trying to break free.

Kat smiled and closed her eyes as the bomb went off.


	75. The King Falls

**Chapter 75**

_The King Falls (4)_

* * *

The explosion of white light that encompassed the air was almost as incredible as the shockwave of the bomb going off. There was a sudden calming silence as the bomb went off in the first place, and then came the cacophony. There was a sudden blast of pressure that knocked anything that stood in their way to the ground much like the fist of a zord striking a monster in front of them.

Rocky, Adam, and Tanya found themselves immediately flung off their feet and blasted backwards amongst a wave of hot air. But while they landed on the ground they found that they weren't hurt. But Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina certainly were. Their screams of pain filled their ears. Rocky rolled to his knees and brought his hand in front of his helmet to shield his eyes from the bright blast. He watched as Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina continued to writhe back and forth, continued to screech a sound that rivaled what a bat could make.

To that, Rocky grinned as he got to his feet. He clenched his hands, feeling a new surge of power run through him. As he glanced down at his hands he found that they were glowing a bright blue, as if his body was absorbing a new sense of power. His animals spirit, the ape, roared victoriously inside him, beating his chest with its fists, and waited for the chance to strike. He looked over at Tanya and Adam and saw them getting back to their feet as well, wisps of yellow and green glowing around their hands as well.

They must've felt the surge of power as well.

"What was that?" Rito demanded, jerking this way and that as he looked around. He swung his sword as he did so, as if trying to track a fly to swat. "What _was_ that? It felt like all of my bones were being picked at once!"

"You numb skull," Goldar growled back towards her. He grasped Rito's shoulder to hold him still. "It was something those puny rangers managed to do .We have to get out of here before they come to their senses."

"Too late," Scorpina growled. She pointed over towards the rangers as they stood in a line in front of her. "Look!" She growled and clenched her hand into fists when she spotted Rocky, Adam, and Tanya slowly coming their way. "Looks like we'll have to take them down toge—"she paused and looked to the side where Rita and Zedd were slowly walking away, as if trying not to be seen. "Where do you think you're going?"

Rita gulped and turned back around. She put on a mask of confidence and anger. "What? You don't think you can handle these power brats yourself?" She demanded. "We've given you all the tools you need to take these brats down and you still need _our_ help?"

"It's no wonder your little pukes can't do anything right," Zedd added. "Always have to have us helping you out." He picked up his Z-sceptar and put it together with Rita's wand. "Make our monsters grow!" They declared and while Rito, Goldar, and Scorpina grew to their massive sizes once more, Zedd lowered his scepter and grabbed Rita's hand. "Now let's get out of here before they realize what's happened. Master Vile is already waiting for us back at the Lunar Palace."

"You got it, Zeddy!"

"Looks like we're going to take these guys down again," Tanya said. "This time should be easier and then we can go on to stop the Machine Empire. King Mondo and the others aren't going to get away taking over Angel Grove, we're not going to let them."

"Let's call in the zords," Adam said. He and Rocky threw their hands into the air and called, "We need Zeo Zord power, now!"

Their zords came out of the hidden base and Rocky immediately got into his zord, piloting it towards Goldar. His zord raced forward and he brought the fist back, punching Goldar directly in the face. The golden monsters stumbled backwards then spun to kick Rocky but Rocky blocked it by bringing up the fist of his zord and followed through with a kick that knocked Goldar completely onto his back. As the golden monster worked its way back to his feet once more Rocky opened the front of the zord anda barrage of gunfire came blasting out, shooting Goldar in the face.

Tanya turned her zord around and the back opened to fire out two missiles that twisted and turned through the air to hit Scorpina. Scorpina rolled out of the way of the blast and turned into her monster form, complete with stinger, and charged towards he yellow ranger. She dodged a punch Tanya tried to grab her in and spun around so that her stinger whacked the face of the zord, cracking the protective screen. Tanya grunted in surprise as she was flung around in her seat. Then she shook her head and grabbed harder onto the joysticks in front of her. "Let's see how this sting feels!" She declared and shot her zord forward where it picked up speed as the seconds passed. Scorpina turned around and before she could bring up her stinger to attack once more she was rammed face first and knocked back onto the ground where Tanya continued to lay attacks on her left and right.

Adam made his zord duck and roll out of the way of an attack before he and Rito were locked up in a whirlwind of flying fists and swords. Rito continued to rant and rave at the top of his lungs while he attacked the green zeo ranger and Adam ignored it, focusing on attacking him the best he could. What could be easily said was that Rito certainly did not want to fail. The last time he had seen the skeleton monster fight so hard and viciously had been when Kimberly was leaving the team and her powers were in jeopardy. Rito had led the charge then and he led the charge now, putting a flurry of attacks on the villain as he could. They continued to stay locked in hand to hand combat before Adam finally gained the upper hand and knocked Rito onto his back.

"Alright guys, let's take these jokers down once and for all!" Rocky declared.

"Right!" Tanya declared.

"You got it!" Adam added.

The triangle, square, and oblongs on the front of the super zeo zords started to glow in their respective colors. Then there was a bright beam of light energy that shot from them and crashed into Rito, Goldar, and Zedd with so much power that it sent the three monsters flying as they screamed in pain. Once they landed on the ground they resorted back to their smaller forms.

"Let's get out of here!" Rito declared and the three monsters disappeared.

"Three down and more to go," Adam declared.

###

Kat's erratic breathing reached her ears, signaling that she was still, indeed, alive. How that was entirely possible she wasn't sure, but she was still alive. Slowly opening her baby blues, Kat took stock of herself. She felt…stronger somehow. There wasn't a scratch on her suit; no burns, no open circuitry, nothing that would show she had been hurt too badly.

Then she turned to look around the clearing as the dust settled. She saw the form of her jet cycle lying on its side on the ground, she noticed Master Vile was no longer in the clearing, and she could see Avalon lying on the ground, her arms over Fred's and Bailey's heads to protect them from the blast. The cogs were gone and the clearing was quiet.

Then Kat turned her attention back to Tommy, who lay prone on the ground. She couldn't tell, with his helmet still being on, if he was awake or unconscious. Reaching up, she pulled off her helmet and hurried over to Tommy, grabbing his shoulder. "Tommy!" She unclasped the sides of his helmet and pulled it off, Tommy's head lolling to the side. She couldn't tell if he was breathing. "Tommy?"

All of a sudden Tommy's eyes opened and landed on Kat. They narrowed into a glare and he reached up, grabbing Kat around the neck and holding tightly onto her. Kat gasped for air, heart hurting with the betrayal, and brought her hands up to pry Tommy's off. She coughed as the walls of her throat started to close together.

Tommy brought his face closer to hers and continued to glare. "Now I have you in my clutches, pink ranger!" He hissed. "I'm not going to let you continue to destroy my city. And if I have to use you to show the other rangers what'll happen if they continue this, then I'll do it."

Kat coughed once more and ressed her hands tightly around his wrists. "If that's what you have to do," She repeated. Tommy's eyebrows twitched for a moment and Kat lowered her chin to look him in the eye. "Then go ahead. But I want you to know that I can still help you. I can make sure that King Mondo doesn't still have a hold on you." Her eyes shifted downwards when she noticed a bright pink glow around her hands.

She tried not to smile.

"There's nothing you can do now, pink ranger," Tommy declared. "Because your time is up. I hope you're ready to say 'hello' to the other side. I've wanted to know what it's like." He started to squeeze even harder. This time the edges of her vision blackened and started to turn into pinpoints.

Kat's eyes shifted and she nodded slightly. Then she closed her eyes and turned her head away at the sound of a blaster going off, Tommy screaming out—more in surprise than in pain—and felt his grip loosen around her neck. Kat sucked in a deep breath of air and rolled to the side. She looked over at Avalon, who re-holstered her blaster and kept her distance with Fred and Bailey.

"If that doesn't knock some sense into him, I reckon I don't know what will," She commented. Her eyes turned towards the darkening skies. "Looks like the Machine Empire is still working. We have to move."

"Not yet," Kat decided. She rolled forward on her knees and grabbed onto Tommy's arm, forcing him to turn him her way. He looked dazed and as if he couldn't get a bearing on anything. "You're not a green ranger," she explained. "Or the ruler of the Machine Empire. You're the Red Zeo Ranger. The leader of our team. We look up to you to lead the charge and to lead us into a battle you know we can win. We can't keep going on without you, or else we're not a team."

"But…" Tommy closed his eyes and turned away. "You're trying to—"

"—we're not trying to do anything but save you, bro," Bailey pointed out, shuffling closer with Fred. She turned to Avalon with her device and what was left with Master Vile's bomb in her hands. "This worked out better than we thought. It seems like it's given you guys a boost of power, too." She nodded to the East where three of the zords were fighting against Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina.

"But why didn't it help Tommy out?" Fred asked, scratching the back of his head. "He was hit by the blast, too."

"I say a good punch in the back of the head will do it," Avalon commented, still giving Kat her space. The Pink ranger gave her a hard stare.

"Who says it didn't work?" Kat said quickly. She turned her attention back to Tommy and continued to hold his gaze. "The Machine Empire is trying to get you to destroy everything you love. Think about your friends and family. Think about everyone you love, you don't want to be the one that's going to hurt them all. You've been through this before and broke through it with the help of your friends and we're helping you now. You helped me get out of Rita's control and the others helped you get out of Rita's control. Now you have to do it for yourself. Think of the times we've shared."

Kat watched as Tommy closed his eyes and as he opened them they stared to glow red, white, and green over and over again. Finally he closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to his forehead. Kat lowered her hands and grabbed him. There was a pink glow that traveled from her hands and encompassed his body and when it faded Tommy opened his eyes once more. He blinked and looked around at his friends that kneeled around him.

"What…what's going on? How'd I get here? What happened?" He asked.

Avalon's eyebrow rose. "Or, we could've done that. That would've worked out better."

###

King Mondo screamed with rage as he watched Rita and Zedd flee from the fight with the rangers with Rito, Goldar, Scorpina, and Master Vile right behind them. He screamed so hard that his circuits warmed and steamed. He turned to Queen Machina, Archerina, Prince Gasket, Prince Sprocket, Orbus, and Klank.

"THOSE RANGERS HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF THEIR DAYS WE END THIS NOW! RITA AND ZEDD MAY NOT HAVE BELIEVEDI NTHEMSELVES BUT WE'LL DESTROY THOSE RANGERS AND TAKE OVER THEIR PUNY PLANET!"

"I'm right behind you, daddy!" Prince Sprocket agreed, clapping his hands gleefully. "I want to take them down myself!"

"Then let's go."

King Mondo led the group down to Earth, landing in front of the power rangers, who grouped together as Tommy slowly regained his senses. "You've made my job hard enough as it is. You're always getting in the way and you never know how to bow down and take it!" He pointed over to Tommy, who stood his ground. "You! You're going to pay for crossing the Machine Empire."

"I don't think so, Mondo," Tommy shot back. "You tried to turn me against my city and my friends. It almost worked but I knew they would have my back. I'm not going to let you destroy everything I love, even if it means sacrificing myself to destroy you."

"Hopefully this is a promise you can keep," King Mondo seethed.

Tommy smirked and held his helmet high above his head. He turned to Kat, who had hers tucked her her arm and nodded. She nodded back and the two called, "Back to action!" Before pulling their helmets back down over their heads.

There was a golden shaft of light that beamed down from the sky and Billy appeared next to them. "I'm with you," he added.

"Alright, good to see you, man," Tommy said.

"Power Rangers, Zeo!" The team cried in unison, falling into fighting stances.

"Attack!" King Mondo declared.

He led the charge towards the power rangers and wasn't going to stop until they were destroyed.

###

"Cadence, we have to start boarding."

Avalon opened her eyes and pulled her headphones down from her ears. She looked over at her mother who quietly beckoned to her from the flight gate with Bailey by her side. Avalon nodded and started to put her stuff away; picking up her books and shoving them into her carry-on bag. Then something fluttered out of one of them and fell to the ground.

Pausing, Avalon picked it up and turned around, smiling at the photo of herself and her friends at the beginning of the school year, all smiling warmly with their arms wrapped around each other. It seemed like such a long time ago after everything they had been through together; with the change in powers and teams and yet they all managed to be friends despite drifting apart in some ways. Kimberly was still in Florida, Aisha was now in Africa, and there were still things that continued to change.

Three days.

It had taken three days of intense battle before the power rangers were able to defeat the Machine Empire.

Through that three days they fought as hard as they could, giving in to more power than they ever thought was possible, than they ever thought they had in their bodies combined. And it had taken a lot of work through their brute strength and from Alpha and Zordon and Bailey and Fred and Jason helping them out to do so. It was a terrible battle; at one point Tanya's and Kat's weakness in their fighting showed and they were out of commission for a while, and that had severely put the rangers back. Then Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Avalon, and Billy tried to hold the Machine Empire off but it had done nothing more than allow the evil faction to push further into the city.

Bulk, Skull, and Detective Stone did their best to get as many people out of Angel Grove as they could, even helping the rangers in their fight against the Machine Empire; using their guns and the other weapons left behind at the precinct to fend them off while the rangers recouped. Finally, the rangers had prevailed but it came with other revealing truths.

Jason now had the gold ranger powers. The powers had taken so much energy from Billy despite his hard work to figure out what made them work and why they took so much life force from the human that got the power. He couldn't continue to hold the power and have it potentially take his own life before the studies could be finished. And Jason was the best option for the role; he worked with the rangers even when he wasn't a ranger himself and continued to prove himself as he did so.

Plus, Billy had received two great offers that he couldn't refuse. He had been accepted to speak at a Peace Conference in Switzerland that he and Jason were going to attend for a few days, then he was heading off to MIT where he had been accepted into an accelerated program due to his consistent attributes in the sciences. He had left Angel Grove the day before Avalon and Bailey went to the airport with their mother, much to the team's surprise and equal excitement.

As for Avalon's and Bailey's decision to leave; it wasn't permanent. Their mother had expressed interest in wanting to go back to Australia and the girls knew they had to go with her for the time being. It wasn't as safe for her as it had been before and she had been away long enough. To ensure that she got there safely as well as having been away for so long the girls decided to go back with her.

"It's not forever," Bailey explained before they left. "It's just for a couple months; we'll be back after that to help you out."

"Yeah, with the Machine Empire gone, you can handle things in case something comes up," Avalon added. She smirked. "And besides, you can't expect me to have come here and not finish school. You lot can't get rid of me that easily."

Saying goodbye was always hard.

Saying goodbye to some of the best people in your life, to people you went through tough situations with, to people you loved was even harder. Avalon was surprised to find that she cried throughout saying goodbye. Maybe it was having broken up with Billy the day before—which was a hard decision for the two of them to make in itself. They had gone back and forth for hours, speaking about whether or not they could handle a long distance relationship while focusing on two different aspects of their lives. There had been heated words and harsh silences until they finally came to the conclusion that hurt the both of them but knew was a better one.

Or maybe it was the weight of their entire journey they shared together that finally hit her and she cried.

Now her eyes were dry and she was ready for what was to come.

With a smile still on her face Avalon put the picture back into the book and placed it into her backpack. It continued to grow as she walked over to her mother and sister. Ellie smiled and reached out, caressing her eldest daughter's face.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

Avalon nodded. "I'm great, mum. Let's go home."

Despite the ways everything had changed, she wouldn't change the journey for anything in the world.

* * *

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> This story is completed in it's entirety on FFN under the penname AvalonBay. I am crossposting the series here from there. I hope you continue to enjoy.


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